


somos la resistencia

by onyxjeon



Series: money heist [1]
Category: BLACKPINK (Band), Big Bang (Band), Day6 (Band), EXO (Band), La casa de papel | Money Heist (TV), TWICE (Band), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Age Difference, Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Criminals, Alternate Universe - Thieves, Crimes & Criminals, F/M, How Do I Tag, Jung Hoseok | J-Hope & Park Jimin are Siblings, M/M, Minor Character Death, Minor Jeon Jungkook/Kim Taehyung | V, Original Character(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-06
Updated: 2020-01-04
Packaged: 2021-01-23 23:21:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 78,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21328351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onyxjeon/pseuds/onyxjeon
Summary: Under the guidance of a mysterious man called “The Professor” (Namjoon), a group of robbers, Jakarta (Jennie), Accra (Kai), Cairo (Taehyung), Sucre (Hoseok), Kyoto (Jimin), Resita (Wonpil), Arad (Woosung), and Citadel (Jihyo) invade the Royal Mint of Spain and take hold of 67 hostages as part of their plan to print, and escape with €2.4 billion. Kim Seokjin, a police investigator is put in charge of the case, unaware that the mastermind is closer than he could ever imagine.
Relationships: Jennie Kim/Kim Jongin | Kai, Jeon Jungkook/Kim Taehyung | V, Jung Hoseok | J-Hope/Min Yoongi | Suga, Kim Namjoon | RM/Kim Seokjin | Jin
Series: money heist [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1543024
Comments: 20
Kudos: 20





	1. BIENVENIDOS

**Author's Note:**

> The fic is set in Spain and is heavily inspired by the Spanish TV show, La Casa de Papel, also known as Money Heist.  
It's my first time doing this so please be nice ;A;  
Anything that is written in Italics is Jakarta's Narration (Jennie).  
Anything that is written in Bold and Italicized are Flashbacks.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Professor recruits a female robber and seven other criminals for a heist, targeting the Royal Mint of Spain.

_ **"Stop or I'll shoot!** _

_ **"No!!!"** _

The woman suddenly opens her eyes from her sleep, feeling paranoid as she points her gun at the door, ready to pull the trigger as she breathes heavily.

No one was there.

She lies down as she looks at the ceiling.

_ My name is Jakarta. But when this story started, that wasn't my name. _

She looks at the TV as she sees her face with the headline: SUSPECT'S WHEREABOUTS UNKNOWN

The camera then pans to a dead body, the love of her life. The last time she saw him, she left the man in a pool of blood with his eyes open. They did fifteen clean robberies, but mixing love and your job never works.

_ So, when the security guard got shot, I had to change my job. From a robber to a murderer, and that's how I started to run away. Somehow, I was dead too. Or almost dead. _

She started packing her bag and put on a disguise before she went away from the van she broke into. Jakarta has been hidden for eleven days, her face wallpapered police stations all over Spain. She would receive a thirty-year sentence, and she's really not the type of girl who likes getting old in a prison cell. Jakarta likes running away, body and soul. And if her body can't take her there, at least her soul escapes. 

Jakarta finds a telephone booth and decides to call her mother, the line rings two times before her mother picks up the other end. 

"Hello?" Her mother asks calmly. 

"Mom?"

The elder covered her mouth in disbelief, "Oh! How are you, sweetheart? What's happening?" 

Jakarta tries to hold back her tears, "Have you seen the news? The things they've been saying about me?" 

"Yes, of course, I've seen them." Her mother replies solemnly. 

"You know, I've been thinking about going on a journey. Maybe join a Chinese ship, I'll apply as a cook." She smiles.

Her mother's brows furrowed on the other line, "Does this mean I won't be able to see you again?"

"What? No, don't talk nonsense. I'll buy you a ticket to see me." 

"See you where? The cemetery?" 

Jakarta's smile dropped, "Mom, are you alone?" 

Her mother looks behind, a full swat team and two officers listening on the line all look at her, "Yes." She replied.

"Go to the market near our house, I'll find you there," Jakarta says as she hangs up.

_ And that day, the day I was going to the slaughterhouse, my guardian angel appeared. But you never know for certain what a guardian angel looks like, and you'd never imagine they'd appear in a Seat Ibiza of 1992. _

"Excuse me, do you have a minute?" The man asked as he drove the car following her, adjusting his glasses.

She spares a glance, "no." 

The man looks around, "cooking in a Chinese ship only has one advantage, you don't have to wash the dishes." 

She stops walking. Jakarta puts her hand through the open window and unlocks the latch, she gets in the car and immediately pulls out a gun and points it to his stomach, the man suddenly puts his hands up. 

"Who are you? Part of the police?" She interrogates him, pushing the gun further.

"You're walking into a slaughterhouse, there is a whole squad waiting for you at your mother's house, they've been there for six days." He said quickly and pointed to the camera at the backseat, "May I?" 

Jakarta nods, he then shows the pictures, snipers on top of the buildings around their house, and the two police officers talking to her mother. 

"I came here to propose a business to you. A robbery. A robbery that is… outstanding. I'm thinking about hiring people who… well, don't have much to lose. What do you think about… two thousand four hundred million euros?" He asked.

_ Nobody had a job like that, neither in New York, nor in London, nor in Monte Carlo. If my face would ever turn up in the papers again, it would be the result of being in the biggest robbery ever. _

* * *

The man has now gathered eight criminals, they all walked in an abandoned mansion together. Assessing the environment as they all gathered upstairs, in a space that is very reminiscent of a classroom. 

“Welcome everyone,” the man said, setting down the piece of chalk after writing _ "BIENVENIDOS" _on the board as he faces the class of criminals and takes in a deep breath. “Thank you for accepting this job offer. We’ll be living here from now on. Away from the city and the rest of the world. It’s not much and it may be a little old… but this building will do. We’ll be staying here to study and perfect this heist for five months—” 

“Wait a minute,” the guy wearing a backwards cap interrupted, “five months? Are you crazy?” eyebrows raised as he asked the question. 

The man in front of the room seemed taken aback by the other’s words, however, he immediately composes himself as he sits, touches his glasses, crosses his arms in front of him and nods. “Well, yes. But look,” the man pauses, “people spend years of their lives studying to earn a salary. A salary which in the end is completely worthless. Compared to your whole life… What are five months? Because I can assure you that I’ve been thinking about this for much longer,” he explains. 

“If this goes according to my plan then none of us will ever have to work again. Not you, not your future children, not even your future grandchildren.” 

Everyone sits back, ready and willing to listen to his every word. 

After nudging his glasses back to his face, the man starts once again with a smile. “Okay. Now, none of you know each other yet and I want it to stay that way. No names, no personal questions, and of course no personal relationships either.” He writes on the board with bullet points. 

This causes everyone in their desks to smirk and look around at any potential partners that could be a problem. 

“I want each of you to choose a name. Keep it simple. It could be numbers, planets, cities.” He suggests, looking around the room with his hands clasped together. 

A man chuckles, “What? Like, Miss Seventeen and Mister Twenty-Five?” The man in the second row laughed, going higher as he continues. 

“Okay, no." The guy in the front seat gives him a glance. “I can barely remember my own phone number. Let’s do planets." He looked at the man behind him. 

“Fine. I can be Mars and you can be Uranus." The man laughs once again, and like before, it goes higher in pitch. 

“Hell no!” The other argued. 

“Why not?” The man stopped laughing and asked as if the name Uranus isn’t the ugliest fucking name you could give someone in the entire universe. 

“Because it sounds fucking awful!” The other said as he slammed his fist on the desk. 

“Okay! Fuck, fine! We’re doing cities then!" The man behind him pouted.

_ And that's how I became Jakarta. The man behind me looking at my ass is Cairo, he's wearing a suit. Under arrest warrant. Twenty-seven robberies, jewelries, auction houses, and security vans. His biggest job, the Champs Elysees in Paris. Four hundred thirty-four diamonds, he's like a shark in the swimming pool. You can swim with him, but you're never calm. He was the boss in charge of the assault. _

_ To my left, is a coughing man who took the name Kyoto, the first thing he dug was a mine in Asturias. Then he understood that digging upwards he'd go further. Six fur shops, three clock shops, and the Caja Rural in Avilés. He uses the thermal lance and any industrial equipment. Behind him is his brother, Sucre. Drugs, teeth, broken ribs. He's the king of fights in discos. Pure hot-blooded, in a perfect plan, a time bomb. _

_ Behind Sucre, wearing a cap, my weakness, Accra. He's like Mozart, but with computers. He started hacking since he was six and knows everything about alarms and electronics. For the rest of things in life, it's as if he had been born yesterday. _

_To his right, the Siamese twins, Resita_ _and Arad. Even the most sophisticated plan needs soldiers, and who's better than two people who came from Serbia? Maybe they are more than disciplined hard-asses, we'll never know._

_ And then, Citadel. A hardened optimist, she has forged banknotes since she was thirteen, and now she's our quality manager. She might be really crazy, but she's very funny. _

The man in front leans towards the class, “I want you all to realize that every day they’ll be talking about us in the news… and every family in this country will be wondering what we’re doing.” He pauses, looking at everyone’s eyes, “and you know what they’ll be thinking? They’ll think ‘Shit, I wish I came up with that idea.’”

_ Last but not least, the mastermind. The Professor, no criminal record, no registration, no one knows the last time he renewed his ID he's a ghost, a smart one. _

“Because we’re not going to be stealing anyone’s money.” he continues, “the public will even think we’re nice. And that-- _ that _ is vital. It is important we have the public’s opinion on our side,” he takes a deep breath and shakes his head and smiles as he looks at each and every one of them in the room. 

He adjusts his glasses once more, “We’re going to be all of those people’s fucking heroes, but be careful. Be very careful because the second there’s a drop of blood— and I mean a _drop_. If there are any victims, we’ll stop being heroes and just become a couple of assholes with too much time on their hands.” 

After a moment of silence, Jakarta raises her hand. 

The Professor nods, “Yes, Jakarta?” 

“What exactly are we stealing?” She asks. 

Slowly, he points to the back of the room and we all turn around in unison to find a replica of a bank, but not just any bank.

He grins before whispering, “The Royal Mint of Spain.”

* * *

DAY OF THE ROBBERY

FRIDAY 8:35 AM

At the back of the van, the seven criminals wore red jumpsuits and a Dalí mask, each one having an assault rifle. 

Accra takes his mask off, "Who chose the masks?" He asked looking around the van. 

"Is there anything wrong with the masks?" Cairo questioned back. 

"Well no, I'm just saying… in movies they have zombies, skeletons, monsters, its just not scary—" he was cut short by Cairo pointing a handgun at him, "with a gun on your hand, I assure you a madman is scarier than a skeleton."

"Hey, stop it," Kyoto warned, he was wearing an orange safety vest on top of his jumpsuit. 

"Who is this guy anyway?" Sucre asked.

"He's Dalí, the Spanish painter." Kyoto looked at him.

"A painter? A painter of paintings?" Sucre furrowed his brows.

"Well, of course. What else will he paint?"

Sucre sighed, "dolls are far scarier for children." He claimed.

"What kind of dolls?" Cairo looked at him.

"Fucking Mickey Mouse, Pluto, Goofy! Think about it, if a man were to crash your place and points a gun at you with a Mickey Mouse mask on you'll be scared shitless. It would be a massacre, you know why? Because guns and kids are two things you should _ never _put together. Am I right or not?" Sucre looks at them intensely.

"Well, yeah. That's more dangerous." Kyoto nods.

"So a Jesus Christ mask would frighten more, he's more innocent." Cairo smiled.

"They say, 'It doesn't suit you, it's like Christ with two guns.'" Kyoto replied.

"No, isn't it 'like a saint with two guns'?" Accra argued. 

They drop off Kyoto as he gets ready for the next step. 

Arad drives off to an abandoned warehouse, filled with firearms and weapons covered in cloth.

E-80 LOCAL ROAD 9:25 AM

_ The Professor knew there was just one way to come to the Royal Mint of Spain with three tonnes of explosive devices. It had to be done in the lorry that entered the building every week with the new paper money rolls ready to be printed. And that is exactly what we are about to do. Getting to the very core, escorted by the National Police. Kyoto has blocked the road with fences and signs, and Accra has interfered with the radiophones. In Spain, anything guarded by two police cars is something heavily protected. But if you get the opportunity to cut off the communications for the policemen, and point two twenty-six-year-old kids with five assault rifles at their heads, you're untouchable. _

"Get out of the fucking car!" 

"Now shut up and do as I say!"

_ They're scared shitless. Courage and heroism have a price, and it's greater than the one thousand six hundred euros a month these men in uniform receive, or the lorry driver. _

"Open the door right now!" Resita ordered, the driver and his companion opened the door without hesitation. Now if you were to have your daughter on the back of the truck you'd never have opened it, but who cares about paper rolls with watermarks on it?

Resita and Kyoto started loading the lorry with arsenal of weapons, whilst Citadel pushes the workers in. They have stripped off their uniforms and exchanged them with Cairo, Kyoto, and Sucre. 

"Sit down. Now the three of you need to calm down, otherwise, a blow with the rifle." Citadel taunted, as she put tape on their mouths. 

"You'll be driving with guns pointed to your kidneys, when you get a radio call to know if everything's all right, you'll answer coolly, as if everything ran smoothly. Am I clear?" Cairo asked with his hands behind his back, all of them nodded nervously.

The policemen were accompanied by Cairo and Sucre, and the lorry driver with Kyoto. Resita has now cleared the road as they were ready to go. Citadel and Jakarta have now worn disguises and are in a car of their own.

"Don't take your eyes off the girl, there can't be any mistakes, alright?" Cairo raises his eyebrows collectedly.

Jakarta looks at him, "She's seventeen, I think I can handle her." She says as she drives off.

On a school trip, a young girl sits at the back of the bus, alone. She writes in her journal as she rests her head on the window. All of her classmates are sitting at the front, happily chatting with each other. Her phone softly rings, a message appears, it's from Calvin, a well-known athlete in her boarding school. He asks if he could sit with her, Lisa looks up from her phone, she immediately makes eye contact with him, she then nods. Calvin slowly approached her, grabbing the seats as he walked at the back. 

"Do you want to go out with me?" He asks as he sits down next to her with a smile, Lisa hides the smile creeping up her face as she looks out of the window.

"So does that mean… no?" Calvin chuckled softly.

She then looks at him, "no, I mean… yeah, I'd like to go out with you."

The two held hands, he planted a soft kiss on her lips, Lisa immediately looked at her other classmates, checking to see if they were watching.

They weren't. 

"Class, we have now arrived. Let's please go out of the vehicle in an orderly manner and use— Polo, that's not how we behave in class." The chaperone scolded.

Calvin stood up Lisa's hand in his as they walked outside the bus along with their classmates outside the Royal Mint of Spain.

"The little lamb is coming in." Jakarta says in her earpiece.

"Perfect." The Professor replied, "Cairo, it's your turn." he says as he checks the computers.

ROYAL MINT OF SPAIN 10:16 AM

"Keep calm." Cairo reminded the policeman, they pulled over to the toll booth. 

"Hey Javier, where's Jorge?" A man asked.

"Shift change." Javier replies quickly, the man nodded and let them go through. 

The excited students are now going through a security check, putting their bags through the conveyor belts, going through metal detectors, and wearing an ID around their necks.

A man in a suit is makes his rounds in the money-making factory, checking through the machines and his workers, he stops by an office and sees his assistant, another male around his age. 

“Don’t turn around.” He touches the younger’s lower back, “I can barely breathe when I’m around you.” He smiles.

“Well, breathe. Because I’m about to collect my money pretty soon.” the younger turns around to look at him, his smile falls.

As the vehicles enter the lot, Accra is inside the lorry working through the security cameras. "Cairo, to your left." He warns.

Cairo immediately looks the other way around, scratching his eyebrow as a cover-up.

Back at the office, the younger male goes out to find his boss, making himself busy by looking through the paper rolls. 

“Are you gonna say anything? I just told you I need the money for the damn baby and you’ll just keep calm about it?” He asks in a harsh whisper. 

“What do you want me to do, Yoongi? Have my wife write you a check for a couple hundred thousand euros every month from my bank account?! For fuck’s sake!” He replies equally as mad.

The lorry has now entered and Accra has gained full access to the alarms, disconnecting them, "Alarms disengaged!" He says with a smile. 

"Good." The Professor replies, "Jakarta, now."

Jakarta and Citadel are now headed up the stairs to enter the building.

“You said if I slept with you, you would give me money to support my damn child—”

The man rolled his eyes, “and you were too fucking desperate and believed me. It’s not my damn fault the woman wanted to give it up for adoption the moment that little shit is born.” He points a finger at him.

Kyoto and the lorry driver now have opened the doors, revealing the rolls of paper.

“She obviously doesn’t want the baby to live with a guy who’s confused about his sexuality for a father.” 

Yoongi was taken aback, “Who do you think I am? I didn’t come here to be judged, much less for a guy who cheated on his wife and lies about it, Seung Hyun.”

As the forklift collects the items in the lorry, Jakarta and Citadel get ready to walk through the metal detectors. 

Kyoto anxiously watches the driver as he goes by two people who seem to be arguing. 

“Wait, Yoongi, listen to me—” 

Resita and Arad burst through the fake paper roll and start firing their rifles to the ceiling, Yoongi and Seung Hyun immediately put their hands up and ducked. The officers quickly tried to take action, however, Cairo and Sucre have their guns pointed at them. 

Jakarta and Citadel were able to go in and have taken out their guns, “Don’t move!”

The robbers are now going through offices and rounding up the workers, the Professor now waits anxiously in the abandoned warehouse. Some workers tried to escape but were immediately caught by Cairo. Kyoto, Resita, and Arad corner the students, as they run away in fear. 

"Professor! We have a problem! I can't see her!" Jakarta shouts as she skims through the sea of students, "I can't find the little lamb!" 

The Professor sighs, "Miss Manoban, where are you?" He whispers as he looks through the chalkboard with her photos on it. 

Accra walks up to a button that closes the gate to the entrance, they are now locked in. The hostages are being gathered on the first floor, all are shaking in fear. 

Lisa and Calvin are in the bathroom, making out, however, when Calvin starts to unbutton her blouse, she tells him to stop. 

Calvin sighs, "I get it, we're moving too fast, right? How about we just remember this through a photo?"

"I can't see the girl, I can't fucking see her," Jakarta says hurriedly stomping through rooms with her rifle. 

"If it makes you uncomfortable, you can just delete it, it's your phone anyways." Calvin smiles, he then proceeds to make the photo inappropriate by pulling on her blouse making it look scandalous, he immediately posts it on social media. "You're gonna be a fucking star." He smiles.

"No! Give my phone back!!! Give me the fucking phone!!!" She starts slapping him. 

Jakarta hears this and starts running to the door where the sounds are coming from, she aims her gun and sees the two fighting each other, they instantly stop as they see the weapon. Jakarta takes the two students to the first floor, they see all the hostages with blindfolds, holding each other's hands in a formation, in the middle are three masked Dalís. 

This is the last thing Lisa Manoban sees, as they put a blindfold on her and Calvin too.

* * *

"Good morning," Cairo starts, "I am the person in charge." He says as the hostages whimper around him. "And first of all, I want to offer my apologies. This is truly not a good way to end the week." He looks around, Sucre and Accra go around asking for the hostages' phones.

"However, if you obey, I'll guarantee you'll be left alive."

Seung Hyun flinches as he felt Cairo walked past him. 

"Name?" Sucre asked.

"Lisa Manoban." She answered.

"PIN?" 

"Two. Zero. Seven. Five."

Accra writes the code down on a notepad.

Cairo stops in front of a pregnant woman.

"PIN?" Sucre asked for Seung Hyun's phone.

"W-why do you even need the pin?" He questioned.

"Either you tell me the fucking PIN or I'll blow you with my rifle." 

"How long have you been pregnant for?" Cairo asked.

"E-eight months." 

Cairo hummed, "eight months."

"PIN?" Sucre asked Seung Hyun again.

"One. Two. Three. Four." Seung Hyun said quickly.

Accra started giggling.

Sucre did his signature laugh, going high in pitch, "you look smart but you got a shitty password, what an ass." He mutters as he shakes his head, "Your name?" 

"Seung Hyun." He replies rapidly.

"Seung Hyun, what?" 

"Seung Hyun Lee." 

"Good job, Seungri." Sucre smiled, creating a nickname for him.

"You're our safe-conduct here, so I'm going to protect you." Cairo starts again, he goes near to the woman who has trouble breathing. "Give me your hands." He orders gently, "that's it. What's your name?" He asks.

"Ariadna." She swallows.

"Alright, Ariadna. Come here, calm down." He gives her hands a tight grip, "do you feel my hands? Are they hands of a monster?"

"N-no." She whimpers.

"Listen, I know exactly what you feel. Dry mouth, shortness of breath… you have to try to calm down. Breathe in, breathe out. Everybody, let's do breathing exercises, do it with me."

Everyone starts to inhale and exhale just like Cairo commanded, suddenly the phone rings. “Mister Min Yoongi, please step forward.” Cairo says.

“Don’t move, don't fucking move.” Seung Hyun whispers harshly as he grabs Yoongi's hand tight.

“Be quiet.” Yoongi whispers back.

“Don’t move.” 

“Mister Min Yoongi, would you kindly step forward, please.” 

Yoongi yanks his hand away from Seung Hyun, “That’s me.” He says.

In the other room, Kyoto is done welding part of the steel door. With careful hands, he starts picking the lock of the vault. 

Sucre walks towards him and watches, as his brother successfully managed to open the door, "you're the fucking best, Jimin. You hear me? You're the fucking best!" He starts shaking him.

Kyoto smiles, as he grabs the duffel bags behind him and gives one to Sucre. 

As the vault opens, they are greeted with a huge pile of money, all stacked against each other in the middle of the room. 

"Holy shit." Sucre jumps on top of the pile, it barely budged, "we can sleep so great here, Jimin." Sucre sits up, "you know what this means, right? Boom. Boom. Boom." He starts making a beat and dances to it while waving a wad of cash in the air. 

"Okay now, Hoseok. Let's get to work." 

"This smells so fucking great, bro." Sucre sighs.

"Get down here and let's fucking work damn it!" Kyoto whines.

"Just lie down here, come on! When have you had a bed like this? Not since prison, I'll tell you that." Sucre comes down.

"Listen! Don't take this the wrong way. But we're nothing." 

Sucre's smile falls.

"Can you do anything? Have you ever had a job in your life? Have you ever taken your CV anywhere?" Kyoto starts packing the money in the bag.

"My CV? For what? To get you out of Acalá-Meco?" Sucre started collecting the money harshly. 

Kyoto stops, "Do you think I'm proud of that? Twelve years of my life, in and out of prison. You know why?" 

"Why?" Sucre stops.

"Because I'm not smart, Hoseok, and neither are you. The person in charge of this job is smart. If you don't act like an asshole and if we're lucky, we leave this place safe and our lives are settled." 

Sucre slowly smiled, "I'm not an asshole." 

Kyoto rolls his eyes, "Yeah right. Now let's fill these bags."

“Now, I want you to answer the phone and tell them the place has shut down because of a technical problem, understand?” Cairo asked Yoongi to which he nods. 

Cairo puts the other's hand on top of his pistol, “I have no choice but to point this gun at you. Can you feel it?” 

“Yes.” Yoongi whispers as he feels the gun pressed against his chest. 

Cairo picks up the phone, “now.” He whispers.

"Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre, how may I help you?... no, I'm sorry, I can't put you through Seung Hyun right now… the system is down. No, he can't come here and talk to you, because…" Yoongi’s breath starts to pick up, Cairo pushes the gun further. 

“Just because… I don’t know where he is right now, I don’t know if he is in the factory, in the museum, in the canteen, or wherever he is! And besides, that’s not my job, miss!” Yoongi quickly hangs up the phone and takes a deep breath. 

Cairo smiles, “that performance deserves an Oscar, Mister Min.” He says as he lowers his pistol.

* * *

Resita walks towards the bathroom, wearing gloves as he opens one door to a stall. 

_ Twenty minutes after coming in, we started to wire the analogue communication system to talk to the Professor. Without phones or radiofrequency, with nobody being able to hear us. We had sealed the doors and the alarms had not set off. _

Inside one of the staff rooms, Jakarta has finished hanging all of the collected phones on the wall, with their PIN written down on a piece of tape. Accra comes in and hugs Jakarta from behind.

_ We were like in a time limbo, with nobody knowing we had taken over the Fábrica de Moneda y Timbre. And in that sweet calm before the storm, it just seemed like an ordinary day. _

** _Accra cheekily knocks on Jakarta's door._ **

** _"Accra? What the fuck are you doing?! If you get caught by the Professor—" _**

**_He pushes her inside the room, ''No, okay. I know. Tomorrow is the day of the robbery. And I don't know what's about to happen." He sits down on the edge of her bed, "and I just wanted to come here, and let you know that I'm serious about you, us. I know there is an age difference and that you are looking for… a more serious commitment, not a… kid. So I have something to give you." Accra takes off his dog tag and puts it in her hand, "I know it's not much, we're locked in this house so I didn't get to buy a diamond. But, when we're out of here, I want you to know that you'll receive the biggest ring in the whole world, you'll need to carry your hand in a fucking wheelbarrow." _ **

** _They both chuckled._ **

** _"So is this kind of like a promise ring? An engagement badge?" Jakarta asked._ **

** _"Well, yeah. Just in case something happens, you'll be able to know my real name."_ **

** _She looks up, "we aren't even allowed to know each other's real name." _ **

** _Accra smiles, "then don't look at it." _ **

** _She sighs, "how do I say this… Listen, our… affair. It's been good. Yeah?" _ **

** _Accra nods._ **

** _"But, I sincerely don't think we'd be a good couple." _ **

** _"Don't we fuck well enough?" He questions._ **

** _"We do. But, don't you need something more than just fucking to be a couple?" Jakarta asks. _ **

** _"Are you saying this because I'm twelve years younger than you?" _ **

** _She shakes her head. _ **

** _"There's love. Don't tell me you don't feel it too… is there another man?" _ **

** _Jakarta looks at him, "not anymore. Listen, after this is all over. How about we go to Tahiti? Let's see if it works out." _ **

** _Accra stands up and goes for the door, but Jakarta stops him. They slept with each other that night, but she only had one thing on her mind. To not die tomorrow._ **

One of the phones started ringing, "you left a phone on." Accra points out.

"Then turn it off." Jakarta smirks. 

Sucre comes in the room, his duffle bag filled with money in tow. "The vault is open now." 

Cairo follows, "put on your vests and get ready to go out. As soon as you're ready we will activate the alarms." 

"Cairo, I'm ready to activate the doors." The Professor says in the earpiece.

"Hostages! For your security, take three steps back!" Cairo orders. 

Jakarta, Accra, and Sucre walk down the stairs with the bags filled with money. 

Seung Hyun raises his blindfold, he sees the three walking towards the gate as Citadel presses the button, "calm down, I can see them. They have the money, they will leave us alone now." 

The Professor adjusts the radio, he hears the police reporting the robbery. 

"There is a 10-23 at the Fábrica de Moneda y Timbre. Z24 on our way. We'll get there in two minutes." 

"Cairo, two minutes." The Professor gulps, watching from the security cameras.

"Two minutes," Cairo announces to his team as they wait in front of the gate. He failed to catch Seung Hyun peeking.

"Why did the alarm go off just now?" Lisa whispered.

"I don't know, they are just standing there doing nothing!" He replies.

"Why don't they just take the money and leave?" She asked once more.

"I don't fucking know!" 

"Cairo, one minute and forty seconds." The Professor calls out again. 

"One minute and fo—" he looks behind him and sees Seung Hyun without his blindfold hurriedly putting it back on. Cairo walks to him, "What's your name?" 

"Seung Hyun." He whispers.

Cairo hums, "okay, Seung Hyun." He yanks the blindfold away from his eyes, the man quickly covers his eyes.

"I haven't seen anything! I swear! I haven't seen anything!"

The other hostages whimper as they hear the exchange.

"Look at me… _Look. At. Me._" Cairo says as he reaches for his neck, pulling the man's head up towards him.

Seung Hyun slowly opens his eyes and puts his hands down.

"Do you like watching movies?" 

Seung Hyun was confused for a bit, but nodded. "Yes, I am a big fan." He says while starting to tear up. 

Cairo smiles softly, "have you ever realized that in horror films there's always someone at the beginning, like this, a nice guy like you. And the audience thinks, 'That guy's going to die.' And then it happens?" 

Seung Hyun starts sobbing, shaking his head, "No…" 

"Seung Hyun, believe me," Cairo smiles as he puts his blindfold back on. "You're that guy." He whispers.

"Z24 to headquarters, we'll be there in thirty seconds." The radio picks up once again.

"Thirty seconds." The Professor repeats. 

Cairo looks behind him once again, all hostages including Seung Hyun are trembling in fear, “thirty seconds." He announces to his team.

** _"It's important for them to have absolutely no idea what we are doing. We will make them believe that we came there for a robbery. They caught us off guard leaving with the money and everything is fucked up. We took the guns out, shot point-blank because we had no choice but to go back, hurting nobody. Go inside, let them think we're trapped like rats. Let them think we're improvising." The Professor said._ **

Jakarta hears the police sirens outside and puts her mask on. She grabs the bag and marches, "Now!" 

Accra shouts, "Jakarta! Jakarta! Wait, it's too soon!" But still follows with his bag.

_ It was simple: Go out, throw the money, shoot the ground, and go back. _

They were outside shooting the ground near the police cars as the hostages inside started shouting in fear.

_ I heard that order more than thirty times. _

When Accra gets hit, Jakarta felt the world spin around her. She only saw red.

_ What the Professor failed to tell us is that they would also shoot point-blank. _

Jakarta runs back to him, she lifts his hood to see blood coming from his temple. "Accra! Accra!"

Frustrated, she shoots at the car door, trying to hit the officers using it as cover. 

"Fucking shit!" Sucre and Citadel ran near the gate with their guns, shooting at the car window and engine.

Jakarta starts screaming as she shoots a policeman on his shoulder, and the other on his foot. 

"FUCKING GET INSIDE!!!" Sucre shouts at her, Jakarta drags Accra's body inside as Citadel and Sucre run behind them, shooting. 

Citadel presses the button as the gate closes. 

"Fuck!" Sucre shouts as he throws his mask to the floor.

Jakarta starts crying and takes off her and Accra's mask, she quickly examines him. 

"This couldn't have started fucking worse, man!" 

Jakarta ignores Sucre as she started to cry, hugging Accra. 

"Sucre, stop! I can't fucking breathe!" Citadel starts panting as she puts a hand to her chest. 

"FUCK!" Sucre punches the wall.

"Urgent support. We need urgent support at the Fábrica de Moneda y Timbre. We've got hostile gunfire. Officer down. I repeat, officer down." 

The bags outside were unzipped, the wind slowly blew the money away.

_ An M16 bullet is fired at three thousand five hundred and ten kilometres per hour. It flies faster than the speed of sound. So if you were to be shot in the heart, you won't even hear the bullet that killed you. That's how I know I fucked up, in a millisecond. The same way as usual. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if there were any mistakes im sorry, i tried :(


	2. PRIORITY ONE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The hostage negotiator, Kim Seokjin, makes initial contact with the Professor. One of the hostages is a crucial part of the thieves' plans.

“Do you want to color the flower purple, Luca?” the man gives his daughter a purple crayon, the little girl doesn’t answer and proceeds to ignore her father. He sighs, “Luca… don't ignore me.” 

She pouts, “I don’t understand why mom can’t come tomorrow, it’s _ my _birthday party.” she stops coloring. 

“I already told you, Luca. A judge took custody away from her and now I’m the one who will take care of you.”

“It’s not a judge.” She plays with her hands.

“Oh really?”

“It was you. You were the one who decided. Am I right, grandma?” she looks to her left. 

The man slouches in his chair.

“Well, things are not going well with your mom and dad. But it will get better, trust me.” The elder said, patting her head.

The man’s phone starts ringing, he gets up and goes to another room.

“It’s his work again.” Luca sighs.

“Inspector.” The man presented.

“Hey, Jin. I know it’s your day off, but there’s a robbery with hostages. They tried to escape with the money but they were too late. They’ve hurt two officers. It’s at the Fábrica de Moneda y Timbre, and I want you to take care of the negotiation.” the man on the other line said. 

Seokjin looked out the window and made eye contact with his mother, “alright, send me a car then.”

8TH HOUR OF THE ROBBERY

FRIDAY 6:25 PM

“Tell me what the fucking shit was that?! LOOK AT ME AND FUCKING TELL ME!” Sucre shouted at Jakarta’s face.

She doesn’t move as he demands answers, her eyes wide as she looks at the ground. They were in the staff room with phones. Accra is getting his temple treated by Citadel, he sits as he shivers and just watches. 

“You’ve literally done what the fucking Professor told us not to do! You shot the two fucking policemen, Jakarta! Are you fucking stupid?!” Sucre waves his hands around.

“Calm down. A fucking officer appeared and shot at me. What was I gonna do? Fucking spit on him?!” 

“What can you do? What can you do?! Stick to the fucking plan!” Citadel stops cleaning Accra’s wound. “We went over that shit four hundred fucking times and you can’t even follow it!” she points a finger at her. “We said that! We weren't going to shoot anyone. And what did you do?! SHOOT TWO FUCKING POLICEMEN!” Citadel walks away from Jakarta, putting her hands to her hips.

Accra looks at Citadel, “look, I fell, got blocked by the impacts—” 

Sucre pounds his fist on the table, “SHUT UP! We also covered you, but shooting at the fucking ground, not point-blank to their bodies.” 

Accra continues shaking, putting his head down.

Cairo pushes the door open, “they’re taking away the injured officers. Are the telephones connected?” he looks at the youngest, Accra places a telephone on the table. “Cut off any wireless or radio signal. Let’s switch to analogue.” he takes off his earpiece and collects the others’ as well. Cairo drops all of it in an aquarium, “let’s call the Professor.” 

“What are you wearing?” the Professor asks in the warehouse, “what are you wearing?” he asks once again, but in a different tone, “what are you—” the phone rings, he walks towards it and picks up. 

“Two officers were shot.” Cairo reports calmly.

“Who shot?” 

“Jakarta… Accra, connect the security cameras to the Professor… the bullet shot near Accra, then Jakarta shot. It seems like they have an affair.” 

Jakarta immediately looked up from the ground to look at Cairo. 

Professor sighs, “put her through.”

Cairo looks at Jakarta, smirking as he hands over the phone.

“What?” Jakarta asks, pissed.

“Is this true?” the man looks at the computer, “you have an affair with Accra?”

She faces the security camera at the corner of the room.“What the fuck are you on? No. The love of my life already died and the last thing I would think about is having an affair with a kid. I shot to protect myself and my partner.”

She failed to see Accra behind her, his eyes tearing up, but stayed silent.

“Oh, and Professor. No matter how many times you think this shit over, things don’t always go the way you planned them.” She hangs up the phone harshly and stomps out of the room. 

Accra watches her leave as his heart breaks.

* * *

The car drops Seokjin off and is immediately greeted by his partner, Rodrigo. 

“What else has happened?” Seokjin asked.

“They opened the vault to get the latest banknotes.”

“Why didn't the alarm go off?” 

Rodrigo looks at him, “they said it was a manual alarm. We guess it could have been the worker.” 

“And how many hostages?” 

“Well, it’s kind of impossible to tell, it was open earlier.” His partner scratched the back of his head. 

“Give me an estimate.” Seokjin looks at him.

“Well it’s confirmed, thirty-five workers, eleven security guards, and seventeen children from the British school trip.” 

The two gave way for an officer on a stretcher to get to the ambulance. 

“And the robbers?” 

“Well, four went out. So I’m guessing about six of them?” 

“Weapons?” 

The two watch as the GEO gets prepared to go in front of the building. 

“They have M16s and they are extremely aggressive.” 

Seokjin sighs, “do you have any good news for me?” 

Rodrigo looks at him, “well, the two officers who got shot are still alive.” 

“Great.” Seokjin mutters.

The two walk to a white tent, filled with workers who are tasked to work at the scene of the crime and help the investigator. 

“What happened to the cameras?” Seokjin asked.

“Our officers can’t locate it. They must’ve cut off the optical fibre, we can’t hack them.”

“Listen carefully, all of you. Police, Civil Protection, I want all of your phones switched off. We are going to use the repeater on the roof of the building in case they need to call someone. I want any phone signal in the whole perimeter to lead straight here.” Seokjin orders.

“I want all the listening analysts here in under two minutes.” Rodrigo follows up. 

Seokjin walks up to the Chief of GEO, Miguel, “Do we have the building layout?” 

  
  


Cairo looks at Accra as he stirs up his coffee, “the hostages will be taken care of today.” 

Accra looks at him, “What are you doing?” 

Cairo walks around the room, “we have free time, they have to set up the camp, send us a drone, find the building layout…” he trailed off as he peeks through the window, seeing the tent they set-up and officers preparing their guns. “We must give them time to organize… by the way, why did Jakarta tell the Professor you two aren’t together?”

Accra avoids his gaze, “because we _ aren’t _ together.” 

Cairo smiles, “then why do I hear her headboard banging like a slide hammer? Is she learning how to dance samba at five in the morning?” he drinks his coffee. 

“I have no fucking clue. I don’t know if she dances or can’t sleep.” the younger replied in a harsh tone. 

Cairo sets his coffee down and grabs him by the neck and shoulder, yanking Accra to face him, “Tell me, do I look like a fool to you? You think you can lie to me non-stop?” he asks with a cold stare.

Accra’s eyes shifted quickly to look at Cairo, gulping. 

“I’m just kidding.” the older laughs, he pats Accra on the shoulder, “I might’ve fucked her too. Actually, I might try to.” he jokingly says and reaches for his coffee, however, his sleeve was pulled by Accra and was forced to look at him, spilling the beverage a little bit. 

“Calm down, I don’t even like her that way.” 

“Well, I think you’re wrong. I’m very serious about her.” Accra threatens.

Cairo scoffs, “serious?” 

The younger nods, holding steady eye contact. 

Cairo looks down at the spilled coffee, “sit down.” he commanded as he pulled a chair for himself. “Look, kid, women will give you sex and fun because… they’re programmed to subdue so you impregnate them. Then you’ll cease to exist. Just wait ‘till childbirth.” 

Accra’s eyebrows furrowed, “childbirth is the most exciting event in a father’s life.” 

Cairo grabs his forearm, “in childbirth, whatever comes out between her legs is a nuclear warhead that will destroy everything. After that nothing will be the same, she will never be a sexy woman again. And that warhead will be the center of her universe. Nothing will be the same, all women are like that. Believe me, I had five divorces. You know what that means?” 

Accra looks down and shakes his head.

“It means I believed in love five times.” 

“What the hell is going through your mind? Why did the Professor put you in charge?” the younger asked.

“Due to my sensitivity dealing with people,” he stands up, grabbing his coffee, “take the little lamb to another office and _ don’t _ leave her alone. Even if she needs to change, stand next to her.” he says and leaves the room, leaving Accra all alone.

* * *

** _The group was outside the mansion, and after helping Kyoto light his cigarette, Jakarta walked past Accra and Sucre having a conversation. She gives Accra a quick look, before sneaking away from the others. _ **

** _“I should go out for a jog, you know. Stretch my legs out a bit.” Accra says, adjusting his cap. Sucre purses his lips and nods. _ **

** _“Learning a language is easier as it seems, but you have to lay semantics aside.” the Professor says as he talks to Arad, he struggles more with Spanish compared to Resita, both immigrated from Serbia after all. Cairo notices that Accra went to the same direction Jakarta took._ **

** _Accra now runs away from the mansion, a secluded place where he and Jakarta go to. As he arrives he sees the love of his life sitting on top of a huge rock. _ **

** _"Well? Don't keep me waiting." She smirks._ **

* * *

Accra grabs a bag, inside is the exact same uniform the team has, including the mask. He walks down the stairs and looks for Lisa, she is sitting on the ground amongst the other victims, blindfolded, hugging her knees to her chest as close as possible. 

Accra quickly grabs her arm, "let's go. I'm going to take you somewhere you can rest." 

She was startled, but nonetheless followed and stood up.

"Jin, all communications inside the building must be done from this phone or the radio, and absolutely no phones, okay?" Rodrigo pointed to the telephone after adjusting it.

Seokjin nods, “alright then, put me inside. I want to talk to the robbers." He looks behind and groans mentally. "Rodrigo, what the fuck is Colonel Hugo doing here?" He grabs the other's forearm.

"I don't know. I don't know." Rodrigo shrugs as he walks away. 

"People are shooting their guns in a place where the money is made, don't you think Intelligence should be aware?" Hugo asked, walking up to him. 

"We are calling them now, Jin," Rodrigo said.

Seokjin looks at Hugo once more and walks towards the telephone. He loosened his tie while the telephone rings, the line was immediately connected to the bank, where Cairo was waiting. He looked at Kyoto and Sucre walking in to the staff room before he pressed the button to forward the call to the Professor, waiting at the abandoned warehouse.

The Professor picked up the call as he grabbed an origami paper. 

"Good afternoon." The other line greeted.

"Yes, hello." The Professor replied.

"This is Kim Seokjin, the Inspector in charge of the robbery. May I please know who I am talking to?" 

"The robber in charge." 

Seokjin looks at his team, all wearing headsets.

"He's got a voice changer." A worker said.

"How are your friends?" The Professor asked as the conversation was heard by Cairo and the others in the staff room.

"So far we haven't had any casualties." 

Jakarta lowered her head as Cairo looked at her. 

"I'm glad, sincerely." The Professor said. 

"I-I'm sorry. I can't hear you well." 

"Yes. I'm sorry about the metallic voice, but you have to understand we have to protect our identity just in case one day you give us a helicopter and we go to Brazil." He folds the paper. 

"Is that what you want? A helicopter?" 

"What I want right now, is to negotiate with someone who doesn't give us the runaround, who doesn't need to ask a superior, Intelligence, or their mom to give me a yes or no." 

Seokjin looks to the direction where the Colonel is, "then you should talk to the President, but since he's busy running the country, I'll try to stand in for him. Hopefully, that's okay with you. Any more questions?" 

The Professor smiled, "yes… what are you wearing?" 

Sucre and Kyoto scoffed and smiled at each other, Cairo smirked. 

Seokjin was taken aback, "Pardon?"

"What are you wearing?" 

The Colonel furrowed his eyebrows, the other workers looked around them, and Rodrigo pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“What are you wearing, Inspector? Don't you think clothes say a lot about our personality?" 

Seokjin licks his lips, "look, I have no objection to answer your question, but I think I need to inform you that this conversation is being heard by several members of the UDEF, the CNI, their liaison officers, the Chief of the GEO and some other officers." 

The Professor pays no mind and continues to fold his origami, "in that case, I think I should say hello and introduce myself." He adjusts his glasses, "nice to meet you, I regret that I can't tell you my name, but you can call me Professor. Everyone calls me as such." 

One of the workers wrote it down as Seokjin looks at Rodrigo who is next to him and looks at the phone. 

"Hello. I am Rodrigo, Deputy Inspector of the Police." 

The Professor nods, "Hello Rodrigo, how are you?" 

The deputy furrows his brows and replies, "I'm fine, what about you?"

"Very well. I'm very well, thanks a lot." The Professor adjusted his glasses once more.

"Professor, please tell me. What do you want?" Seokjin shifted the telephone to his direction.

"Time… to try and fix things. We couldn't go out for a matter of seconds, but we're perfectly ready to defend ourselves, so please try to avoid any kind of intervention." he sighs, "Can I trust you?" The Professor asked.

“Of course. But for me to trust you, you must give me a reason to. Release those children from the school, they're minors." Seokjin narrows his eyes.

The Professor pauses, "but Inspector, you still haven't told me what you're wearing." 

Cairo smirks while looking at the phone. 

Rodrigo signs Seokjin a "go on" gesture. 

"A grey suit jacket, a tie, blue shirt, black boots, isn't that enough?" He smiles.

"Let me think about your offer." The Professor says as he finishes his origami and presses the button to hang up the call. 

Seokjin instantly adjusts his tie.

"Tell me what sort of lunatic with sixty hostages thinks about teasing his negotiator." Rodrigo immediately asks, holding the other's forearm.

"No, he's too calm to be a lunatic." He stands up and faces the workers, "I want helicopters flying all day long over their heads! No food, or any other type of request. Am I clear?" 

The Colonel pulls him aside, "excuse me, Inspector. But just because you leave them without dessert, I don't think they'll surrender. Both the Chief of the GEO, here present, and I believe it's necessary to do an immediate intervention." Hugo says standing taller than the other man.

"If they wanted a massacre like in Moscow's Opera House, they'd have called you straightaway, but unfortunately you're here to bug me instead." Seokjin glared at him.

"Please, Inspector, don't be like that. I'm here to help you. I know you are not going through the best moments right now." 

"If you are talking about Rodrigo calling me on my day off, I'm fine. Thanks for asking." Seokjin says as he walks away, however, he was stopped from what the Colonel said.

“I mean the complaint of ill-treatment you've filed against your ex-wife."

Some of the workers stopped and looked up, however, Rodrigo immediately tells them to keep working. 

Seokjin scoffs, "I see the Intelligence did their homework." He looks up and down at the Colonel, "they're never really satisfied and stick their nose into everything, don't they?" 

"Internal Affairs also know. They think you've brought a false report." 

Seokjin looks at him straight in the eyes, "I appreciate it if you stop talking about my personal life during my time at work, Colonel." He smiles.

"There's an incoming call in the museum's repeater." Rodrigo says pointing at one of the worker's monitors.

"Record it." Seokjin orders.

"Everyone be silent! Please!" Rodrigo calls out, everyone turns quiet as they hear the conversation. 

"Why aren't you coming for dinner?" 

"Well, I'm at work. I'm sorry. It's such a mess here right now—" 

Rodrigo rolls his eyes and sighs as he walks out of the tent to see one of the policemen talking on his phone. He whistles, "Ramirez!" The policeman jolts up.

"Listen, honey, I need to go." 

Rodrigo walks back to the tent, "cut it. It's Ramirez."

Seokjin pinches his nose bridge.

* * *

As more and more snipers and policemen surround the bank, Accra watches from the window, behind him is Lisa, sitting on a chair as she takes off her socks.

"Why did you take me here?" She asks as she unbuttons her blouse.

"I took you here to protect you. Now once you undress, please, put on the red jumpsuit." 

Lisa looks down, "fine." She murmured. 

Accra awkwardly turns around, he positions a mirror towards her to make sure she does as she's told. He immediately becomes uncomfortable, and goes back to the window, he hears a helicopter flying above them.

* * *

** _Jakarta opened up a beer bottle, the team were at the dinner table. She takes a sip, as she watches the Professor with his origami paper._ **

** _"What happens if this all goes wrong?" Accra asks, adjusting his hoodie._ **

** _"The usual things, sweetheart, back in prison, have a cigarette in the yard, ‘special meals’ for Christmas." Citadel lists as she waves her lit cigarette around, Kyoto walks up to them with his own cigarette as well. Cairo a few feet away from the group drinking his wine as he watches them. _ **

** _"It's worse if it goes well. What the fuck are we going to do with so much dough?" Jakarta asks as she starts eating her meal. _ **

** _"I'll buy a Maserati." Sucre says, "the clear blue sky as the color, huh? What do you guys think?" _ **

** _"Poetic." Arad smiles._ **

** _"And then! A martial arts gym." Sucre continues._ **

** _"Do you even do martial arts?" Citadel asks, squinting at him._ **

** _"And also! A bar. Three floors." Sucre says as he points to all of them. "With music so fucking loud your ears will start to bleed. Boom, boom, boom…” He says as he starts dancing in his chair. Kyoto rolled his eyes as he flicked the back of his brother's head._ **

** _"And a pair of lungs for you since you fucked them up in the mines." He looked at Kyoto._ **

** _"You're really gonna spend money on a pair of lungs? Good heavens." Kyoto walks away. _ **

** _Jakarta smiles, "and where are you going to find a pair of lungs?" _ **

** _"There are people who sell their kidneys. There must be people who sell lungs." Sucre answers and everyone at the table laughs. _ **

** _Cairo walks up to them, "well, I… want a winery in Rosario, Argentina." He says fondly._ **

** _Citadel raises her eyebrows, "that's very specific. Is there a special someone?" _ **

** _Cairo grabbed the open wine bottle and poured more into his glass, "hundred hectares of vineyards to cultivate my own wine, it would be perfect." He ignores her question._ **

** _Accra furrows his eyebrows, "you can just buy hundreds of wines in the supermarket though, why do that?" _**

**_Cairo looks at him, "for the art." _ **

** _Everyone chuckles._ **

** _"Well, I want an island." Jakarta chimes in._ **

** _"Me too." Accra looks at her and smiles._ **

** _Sucre looks at them both, "Me three." _ **

** _Everyone laughs, Jakarta hums, "Three's a crowd." _ **

** _"No, but like, hear me out. I want an island with maybe a huge house. Wake up every morning, the ocean's right there. Go for a swim." Accra explains his answer._ **

** _"Well, realistically, I think all of us have some things to sort out first, no?" Citadel looks at everyone, “after that, maybe I will buy a plane. I'll pilot it." _ **

** _Jakarta scoffs, "just hire someone to do it!" _ **

** _The Professor raises his hand slightly, everyone looks at him. "If we buy all those things, let's say for a price… a very expensive price. We'd still have money left. If we are robbing big, dream big." He says. _ **

** _"I'd record an album, singing ‘corridos’, with my face on the cover like this." Kyoto poses with one of his eyebrows raised, exaggeratedly. _ **

** _Everyone laughs._ **

** _"What is ‘corrido’, Kyoto?" Resita asks, with his broken Spanish. _ **

** _"Show him what a ‘corrido’ is, Kyoto. Show him." Sucre grins, encouraging his brother._**

**_Kyoto immediately shakes his head._ **

** _"Aww, come on show us!" Citadel smiles._ **

** _"Come on, sing! Do it! Do it!" Sucre starts chanting as he slams the table. _ **

** _Kyoto stands up and faces Jakarta,_ ** _ ‘Por falta de tus labios lloré por primera vez.’ _ ** _ He starts singing._**

**_Sucre points at him mouthing the lyrics as Kyoto continues, _ ** _ ‘Y maldije conocerte por no dejar de quererte.'_

** _ He sings as he touches his chest, he looks at the Professor, _ ** _ ‘Yo mi esposa quise hacerte_— _ ’ _ ** **

** _"Or husband." Sucre whispers. _ **

_ ‘Sin amour busqué la suerte.' _ ** **

** _Sucre stands up and sings with him, _** _'Fuí tirando de pistola y el destino trajo muerte.'_

** _They took each other's hands and started to dance, _ ** _ ‘María, mi vida, mi amor.’ _ ** **

** _Citadel takes out her lighter and waves it in the air._ **

_ ‘No dejaré de quererte a balazos te perdí ya no volverás a verme.’ _ ** **

** _They finished as the team clapped and whistled._ **

* * *

Cairo walks downstairs and starts clapping, "everyone, stand up. Take off your blindfolds." 

The hostages were in a line as they stood up, slowly. 

Cairo walks down the line, "I'm aware of the situation outside, helicopters have now surrounded us. But we will be able to sleep peacefully tonight. In a few minutes, we'll give you sleeping bags, water, and a sandwich." He stops in front of Seung Hyun, "oh, and let me ask you a favour. I want all of you naked. I want to give you red jumpsuits like ours, so you feel more comfortable." 

Resita and Sucre go down the line, giving the hostages their new uniforms. 

"Excuse me, sir. Among these people there are some with heart conditions, pregnant women, diabetics, teenagers…" Seung Hyun quickly looks at Yoongi, who's a few feet in front of him, "I beg you, please, release those who are more vulnerable. I don't think they can stay in these conditions for a very long time—" he was cut off by Sucre.

"Do you think you're fucking Gandhi?" He walks towards Seung Hyun.

"Sucre, calm down. He's a friend of mine. We both love watching movies." Cairo looks at him and winks as he walks away, Seung Hyun gulps. 

Sucre takes a deep breath, he pulls his gun from his holster and points it to Seung Hyun's head, however, he spins it, so the handle faces the frightened man. "Take the gun." 

Seung Hyun has his arms raised, worried.

"I'm telling you to take the gun. Take the damn gun." 

Seung Hyun puts his hands on the gun slowly.

"Now aim it at me. Here." Sucre guides the other's hand to aim the gun at his chest. 

"No, please." Seung Hyun whimpers, the other hostages covering their eyes.

Cairo watches as he looks at the clock.

"And now, shoot me." Sucre looks at him in his eyes.

"E-excuse me?" 

"_S__hoot_._ Me_." 

Seung Hyun shakes his head.

Sucre grabs another gun and points it at the other's head. 

"No! Please!" Seung Hyun uses his other hand to cover his eyes.

"Either you shoot me or I'll shoot you. I can give you ten seconds. Ten." Sucre starts counting down.

The other immediately pulls the trigger, only for no bullet to come out. 

The students scream in fear, and Sucre starts laughing as he goes higher in pitch. 

"Just kidding, Seungri. It's a fake gun, you did very well. It's a present, you can keep it." He holds the other's face in his hands, Seung Hyun looks down, disturbed. 

"From now on, we will also give all of you fake guns. All you have to do is to trust us… and obey." Cairo once again walks down the line, "Well? Come on! Get naked!"

Everyone looks at each other, uncomfortable, but still follows the order.

* * *

"Jin. We still haven't found any radio frequencies in the building." Rodrigo reports.

"Are you telling me they communicate using an empty yogurt cup and a string so we don't detect them?" Seokjin quickly replies.

"I don't know if it's a yogurt cup, or it's a gang of bats, we can't find any frequencies." 

Seokjin sighs, he walks out of the tent and takes a deep breath. He looks around the area to find armoured vehicles driving towards the building. 

Seokjin rushes towards the tent once more and turns the Colonel to face him, "what the fuck are those armoured vehicles doing here?" 

“We will go in with everything we got." The Chief, Miguel, says.

"That'll be if I give the order. I'm in charge but I still haven't done it." Seokjin says.

"They are orders from above." Miguel states. 

Seokjin looks at Hugo, "is anyone going to tell me what's happening or do I have to call the Minister of Interior Affairs? Tell me what the fuck is going on." 

They are starting to garner attention, Hugo grabs Seokjin's arm as he drags him outside the tent.

Seokjin pulls his arm back,

"Listen, inside there's a priority one person. Do you know what ‘priority one’ is? Hugo glares.

"No. I'm not in your Intelligence gang. I don't know." 

** _"They'll get in. They'll get in because we have our little lamb." The Professor states, he turns around and grabs a picture, "Lisa Manoban. Sir Benjamin Manoban's daughter. He's the UK ambassador." _ **

"And he is friends with the Queen of England, so we have no choice but to go in. Because, if we don't go in, the whole country will know tomorrow."

** _The Professor gives the picture to Jakarta, as they look and pass it around he walks, "they'll think we don't know. They'll think they managed to hide all that information from the public opinion. Today, she's just another hostage, but tomorrow she'll be the main bullseye." _ **

"And everyone would have their guns pointed to our heads. Is that what you want?" Hugo asks Seokjin, looking down at him.

** _"That's why they'll get in the first night. And they'll do it before four-fifteen in the morning. Because at six-thirty, the sun starts showing." The Professor says._ **

"Can you imagine what it'd be like for Spain's hostage crisis to be managed by the United Kingdom?" Hugo lowers his voice.

** _"And even then, it's better if they don't hesitate to get in because then we'll have more possibilities to win the first battle." _ **

  
Seokjin starts to walk away, but is immediately caught by Hugo, "Inspector Kim, we're getting in now and we're taking that girl out, _ alive _." He walks inside the tent, leaving Seokjin outside as he looks at the building.

* * *

The hostages have all worn the red jumpsuits, sitting down as they eat their sandwiches quietly.

"Yoongi. _ Yoongi _. Look at me, we have to talk, stop ignoring me." Seung Hyun whispers.

"_Shut up! _ Just shut up! You're gonna get us both killed." 

Citadel looks in their direction and walks up to Yoongi, she crouches down, facing away from Seung Hyun and pretends to tie her shoes. 

"Seems like you don't like your boss, right?" Citadel asks.

Yoongi looks at Seung Hyun and then Citadel, "How do you know he's my boss?"

"I know everything about you, I've studied that. I've also seen those resignation papers on your desk. What’s up with that?" She points her head toward his direction. 

"He told me he’d give me money so I can support my daughter once she’s born, only to find out that fucker just used me.” His head down in shame.

“So I’m assuming the mom doesn’t want the baby?” She asked, Yoongi nods. 

“She told me if I don’t have enough money to take care of the baby, she’ll just put her up for adoption, I don’t want that.”

“The mother’s at the hospital now?” Citadel asks.

Yoongi nods.

* * *

"Intervention units one, two, and three are ready. We're going in." Miguel orders the officers to get ready. 

Armoured vehicles begin to drive to surround the building. 

"Team 1, hidden at the front door. Watch the flat roof and the high flanks." Miguel says Seokjin and Hugo watch as the team follows the order through the monitor. 

The Professor decides to call the team, as he watches the vehicles at the security camera.

"Yes?" Cairo asked as he picked up the phone.

"They're going in."

"Got it." Cairo hangs up.

"Everyone! It's time!" 

The hostages immediately stand up, Citadel and Jakarta follow Cairo as he walks through them in a single file line.

"It's the moment to follow my orders!" Cairo shouts.

The whole team puts their masks on, as they lead the other hostages to loading area. The Professor watches nervously through the security cameras.

_ And that's how the State security forces did exactly what the Professor told us they'd do. Only when he said that, we were in the countryside and we didn't have the feeling they were gonna shoot us in the head. _

** _The team was outside the mansion playing football amongst themselves, the Professor came after the match was over. _ **

** _"They'll get through the four places they can use to access. The main door, the loading area, the emergency exit, and the rooftop."_ **

"Watch the rearguard of the overtaken doors. Don't let anyone out." Miguel says.

** _"But they'll wait. They'll wait for Technical Intervention officers to examine the location. They'll do that from the loading area."_ **

The team hides behind the cargo as they wait in the loading area.

The Professor watches, "come on, they're at the loading area already."

One of the officers started drilling the door, making a tiny hole. 

Jakarta takes a deep breath.

"Insert the periscope." Miguel orders.

"Let's go." Cairo says as everyone follows him, masks on. 

"Jin, there's an incoming call from one of the hostage's phones, Lisa Manoban." Rodrigo says, Seokjin immediately listens in.

"My name is Lisa Manoban, I'm the United Kingdom's ambassador's daughter. I'm calling you from the inside of the Fábrica de Moneda y Timbre." 

Hugo immediately cuts in, "I want you to end that phone call now!" 

"We're dressed just like the kidnappers," Lisa says, a gun pointed at her by Accra. 

"Colonel, we have an image." 

Seokjin and Hugo look at the monitor, only to see seven people with Dalí masks, a cloth in the middle of the sandbags, all of them have rifles. 

"What the fuck is that," Seokjin says looking closely. 

More people came out with masks on, armed with weapons. 

"They gave us guns and we're wearing the same masks," Lisa says.

"Zoom in." Seokjin orders as he sees Resita with his mask on, pulls the cloth off revealing a machine gun. 

"He's got a Browning machine gun," Miguel says. 

"Motherfucker." Hugo says.

"If you come in, people will get hurt," Lisa says, reading the message written on the paper, held by Accra.

"No, I don't approve. We don't know who's who, your team can't just shoot randomly." Seokjin tells Miguel.

"Don't go in." Lisa cries. 

"Stop this, Miguel." Seokjin orders. 

"Don't go in! For God's sake!" Lisa cries harder.

“Abort the mission. Abort mission." Miguel says, clearly not happy. 

Seokjin starts to walk out but is stopped by the Colonel. "Inspector—" 

"Finished what you started, Colonel. I don't want any part of this." Seokjin says and walks out.

The Professor takes his glasses off and massages his forehead, letting out a deep sigh. 

_ And that's how we won our first battle the first night there, without entering combat and having common sense. Twenty minutes later, we finally began doing what we were there for. _

"This is the nice part, we're going to work. Everyone I call goes with me! Escamilla, Sánchez, Biedma, Lennon, Guatsani, Molina, Kim, Garcia…" Citadel lists off, they go to another room where they print the money, a group with Jakarta and one with Kyoto. 

"Listen, I want these machines working twenty-four hours a day, I want to hear it go boom, boom, boom, nonstop!" Citadel smiles widely, as she walks through the workers, "every time we stop we'll lose a million, so no stopping."

The machines were set as the hostages start working together to print lots of money.

"We'll do technical amendments every three hours, both for the ink and the offset." Citadel explains.

The team took turns guarding the workers throughout the day.

_ The best-paid job ever: Two thousand four hundred million euros, maybe even more. It all depended on the time we could hold on inside. _

"This is fucking great, man! We're making our own money!" Citadel shouts as she runs through the stairs, Jakarta looks up at all the printed money going through the machines, she smiles.

* * *

It was late at night, and Seokjin decides to visit the diner before he goes home. 

He sits at the bar, "I'll have a decaf please." He sighs, and grabs his phone, "hey Mom, listen I know it's late, but—" his call gets cut off, he looks and sees that his battery is dead.

Seokjin smacks his lips, "excuse me, do you have a phone charger?" He asked the worker.

"No. Sorry." 

Seokjin sighs in defeat.

“Do you want to use mine?" A man turns to him, a few seats away, holding his phone.

"You sure? You don't mind?" Seokjin asks.

"No, of course not." The man smiled, offering his phone.

"Thank you, I'll just make a few calls." 

The other man nods, "go ahead." He smiled, fixing his glasses.

Little did Seokjin know, the man who helped him is the same man who asked him what he was wearing a few hours ago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRANSLATION FOR KYOTO AND SUCRE'S SONG:  
\- Because I didn't have your lips, I cried for the first time.  
\- And I cursed knowing that I cannot stop loving you.  
\- I wanted to make you my wife,  
\- I looked for luck, loveless.  
\- I took out my pistol, and fate brought death.  
\- Maria, my life, my love.  
\- I lost you due to bullets, and you won't see me again.
> 
> im sorry because cairo's being a dick, he's been through a lot :/


	3. EXECUTION

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The police were able to grab an image of one of the robbers. Seokjin is suspicious of the man he met at the bar.

20TH HOUR OF THE ROBBERY

SATURDAY 6:25 AM

As Seokjin borrowed the man's phone, he decided to call his mother again. He faced the other direction before he made his quick call, "Hey mom, I'll be home soon." He looked behind him, the man stares patiently with a small smile. Seokjin then calls the superintendent.

_"Please leave your message_." The voicemail said.

"This is Inspector Kim, I know it's late, however, I wanted to tell you that if Intelligence is in charge, due to whatever diplomatic issues, I'm not going to take the case while those thugs force their way there. So I came to the decision to resign. Thank you. Goodnight…" Seokjin looks out the window, and exhales, "goodmorning." He corrects himself and hangs up the phone. Seokjin taps the other on his shoulder.

"Here you go. Thank you so much." 

The Professor nods and looks at the TV as the reporters talk about the morning news. "Oh, excuse me… Is that you?" He points at the TV, Seokjin watches as the camera pans to him and Colonel Hugo talking to each other outside the building.

_ I started telling the story of a kidnapping because everybody will remember those days of siege in the Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre. _

_ The streets downtown were closed, all TV channels broadcasted live for twenty-four hours, the police burned down their academy manuals and did not know how to approach those poor bastards trying to print their own money, but many other things happened and nobody remembers them, things have changed both of us. To the point of not knowing who the bad guys were… and who the good guys were. _

Seokjin immediately grabs his wallet to pay for his drink.

"Excuse me, when you negotiate with those people, do you just give them what they want or do you just buy them time or…" The Professor asked, licking his lips.

"It depends on the case… but yes, we try to calm things down and buy time." Seokjin collects his things and leaves the diner.

The Professor watches as he leaves.

_ But in fact, we were the ones buying time. The phrase “time is money” has never been used better before. Everything was so calm at dawn, that it seemed the plan was going smoothly. The Professor was our big brother, he controlled the police radios and eighteen security cameras. So if someone wanted to fuck us over, we’d know in advance. We took turns watching the hostages, the entries, and of course the production. After twenty hours of starting, the presses had already spit fifty-two million euros, so of course, up until that point, we thought anything was possible. But all that was just the calm before the storm. Things were going to screw up so much, we would be on the brink of losing the game. And if you ask me why I’ll say it’s because of a simple love story. After all, love is a good reason to make everything go wrong. _

* * *

It was a new day and the hostages were still sleeping, however, that was about to change.

Cairo walks down the stairs and looks at the floor, Yoongi is curled up at the corner, similar to a cat. He lightly taps the sleeping man’s shoulder, who slowly wakes up, meeting his eyes. 

“I have a favor to ask you… may I?” Cairo puts his hand forward.

Outside the bank, reporters are scattered behind the rails the police have set up. They see the gate start to open.

“We see movement!” The crowd continued to talk and soon turned into mumbling.

“Deputy Inspector, they’re opening the doors.” The police officers take the position, some directly in front of the bank, the rooftop, and behind the cars. 

“There are seven men, armed with M-16s, sir.” The officer reported.

“Don’t do anything, all right?” Rodrigo said, Colonel Hugo watching beside him.

“But it’s an opportunity.” Miguel muttered.

“_Don’t do anything _.” Rodrigo commanded, looking at Miguel as he talked to the pager. 

Yoongi was outside, holding a piece of paper, next to Cairo. “Take off your hood and mask.” He ordered. 

Five masked Dalís were behind the two holding the guns, Yoongi slowly took off his mask, settling it on top of his head. Cairo held the megaphone in front of his mouth. 

“I’m begging you, please don’t shoot.” Yoongi starts, reading the paper, “my name is Min Yoongi.”

Rodrigo watches the scene, “he’s a hostage.”

“I’m just here to read a statement. I’m speaking on behalf of the robbers. We’re sixty-seven hostages, all of us are in perfect health and well taken care of. There are no victims or wounded. We’re all dressed alike, and it is impossible for you to tell who’s who. So any attempts of assault could cost lives…”

“The Dalí with the megaphone is giving him orders.”

“The one holding the megaphone is a robber.”

The officers communicate with each other, the sniper on top of the roof has the aim. “I request a green light, sir.”

Rodrigo looks at Hugo.

“Target in range. I request a green light.”

Yoongi looks at Cairo, they are now headed back inside.

Rodrigo does nothing, as he watches them go back. 

“It seems the hostages are in perfect health and the assailants do not intend to use violence.” The reporters said.

The Colonel glares at him and shakes his head as Miguel storms off.

* * *

Seokjin has arrived home, he puts down his keys and badge. He notices a sticky note from his mother on the side.

'_My son, I know you don’t like it whenever Luca sleeps on your bed since she might get used to it. But she was very insistent on it and I didn’t want to argue with her. I hope you don’t mind.'_ She wrote. 

As Seokjin walks up to his room, he sees his daughter sleeping comfortably hugging his pillow. He gently lies down and hugs his daughter and goes to sleep. He got home at seven thirty-seven in the morning.

* * *

“We’re locked up and we really don’t know how long this could last, but as long as they don’t blow my head off, I’ll take care of you. As long as you don’t try to trick me, or communicate with the outside, everything will be fine.” Cairo claps his hands, going down the line of hostages, “from now on, things are different. We’re giving you some tasks so you don’t feel down.” He stops in front of a student, “What’s your name?”

“Calvin.” He replied.

“Do you exercise?” Cairo continues.

“Yes, I’m the athletic captain at school.” 

Cairo raises his eyebrows in amusement, he looks at Accra who does the same and looks at Calvin with a smile. “Step forward, Captain.” 

The student follows. Cairo goes down the line and tells another man to step forward, he then stops in front of Seung Hyun. “My man. Seung Hyun, did you sleep well?” 

The man starts nodding fast, “yes, of course.” 

Cairo smiles, “good. Tell me, are you good at DIY?” 

Seung Hyun immediately shakes his head, “no. No, sir, I’m completely hopeless. In fact, when I had a flat tire, my wife changed it.” 

“Are you telling me you don’t have a drill?”

“No.”

“Think of what you say carefully because I have a fucking lie detector right here,” Cairo says in a strict voice, pointing to his eyes. 

Seung Hyun nods looking down, Cairo still has his hands pointing to his eyes and continues to look at Seung Hyun. “Now. Let me try again. Are you good at DIY?” 

Seung Hyun gulps, “I hold my own.” 

Cairo orders him to step forward. He hears a woman sobbing and walks up to her. “Would you feel better if we brought you a tranquilizer?” 

She nods, “yes, please,” she weeps.

“Does anyone else need medication?” Cairo asks.

“Me. I’m diabetic.” Another woman raises her hands.

“Okay, come with me, please.” Cairo says.

“Me too, I’m taking sertraline.” 

Cairo motions her to come forward. “Any other requests?” he asks once more. 

“Me. I’d like to ask for adoption papers, you said you don’t know how many days we’ll be here and I’d like to sort this out as soon as possible.” Yoongi says, looking forward. 

Sucre looks at him, his eyebrows raised. 

“Do you have any specific foster care agencies in mind?” Cairo asks.

Yoongi nods. 

“Alright, you’ll get it today. All of you will be put in Mr. Lee’s office, you’ll be a lot more comfortable their while waiting—”

“I also have a request,” Lisa said loudly, “I want to erase a photo on the internet.” 

Cairo looks at her, “I’m sorry, that’s not my problem.” He walks away. 

“I’ve been tricked, they took me to the bathroom and took a photo of me naked. Now my parents, my teachers, and the media are looking at it.” 

Calvin looks down.

“You can record a video message, so they calm down, and we’ll send it.” Cairo says and steps back, “all of you will be allowed to record messages for your families.” He looks at Citadel and nods over to the hostages and walks away.

“Come on, tough guys, hands behind your heads, and move to the left in a row, stick your chests out as if you were the national team. Move, athlete. Let’s go.” Citadel pushes him as he looks at Lisa while he passes by, she avoids his gaze.

* * *

Kyoto points to the ground with his flashlight, “see this dotted line? You’re going to break the concrete not going one centimetre away from it as if it were a cut-out for children. You will dig forty-eight meters down to the sewer. The shift will last three hours. And when you finish your shift, you go back to the hostages and don’t tell them about what we’re doing down here. Any questions.” He puts the light on Seung Hyun’s face.

“No.” he replies, squinting from the light.

“Good. That means I was clear. Come on, let’s get to work. You, put on hearing protection and take the jackhammer.” He orders Seung Hyun.

“I’ve never used one of those.” 

Kyoto sighs, “Then what do you know? How to cheat on your wife?” 

Seung Hyun looks at him with wide eyes, the other two hostages hold their breaths.

“Just kidding. There’s a first time for everything, no?” Kyoto points at the tool again, Seung Hyun picks it up, struggling from the weight. 

“Now, be careful, you wouldn’t want to lose a foot using that.” Kyoto sits and lights a cigarette as they go to work.

* * *

“Dad, Mom, I’m fine.” Lisa begins her video message.

“In Spanish, please.” Accra interrupts her from speaking in English. 

She pauses and starts speaking in Spanish, “Mom, Dad, I’m fine. They fed us and I slept in a sleeping bag. Mom, this is not too bad, okay? There’s no violence. And, I guess you’ve seen the photo I uploaded on the internet. I didn’t upload that photo and it has nothing to do with the kidnapping, it was a classmate who tricked me and…” she sighs and puts the phone down. 

“Hey, it’s no big deal, people are gonna forget about it. Think of it as… I don’t know, going topless on the beach.”

Lisa scoffs with a smile, “I don’t go topless on the beach. And I don’t kiss boys on the toilet in the museum. The most exciting thing that has happened to me was when my arm got put in a cast.” She looks up at him. 

Jakarta stops by the door frame, leaning against it. “A kidnapping is more exciting.” She interrupts and walks inside.

Accra sighs and grabs Lisa’s phone and settles it down at the table in front of her. 

“What’s wrong?” Jakarta asks.

“Why the fuck do you care? I’m just a child, the bedtime hobby of the last five months, right?” Accra crosses his arms, Lisa looks over to her phone. 

“I said you were a child and that I would never be with you so that you didn’t get a bullet shot in your heart, because I don’t give a damn if I get it instead.” Jakarta replies.

“You don’t believe that you won’t do that for me.” Accra shakes his head.

Lisa grabs her phone as the two are distracted.

“What’s the matter with you? Ever since I came here you’re always making a scene.” Jakarta asks angrily. 

Lisa goes into her social media account, the activity was immediately detected by one of the workers in the tent.

“Colonel, a phone in use is detected. It’s Lisa Manoban’s.” 

Hugo comes closer, “hack it.”

Lisa looks at them in worry as she waits for her phone to load.

“You wanna know what’s up? I’m sure you waited for us to get out of Toledo to start with all this fucking shit, saying that I’m a child.” Accra says pointing his finger at Jakarta.

“She’s trying to log in her profile.” The employee said.

“Come on. Come on.” Rodrigo whispers. 

“Your fucking gigolo and that’s it.” Accra scoffs.

Jakarta stands up to him, “you’re my fucking gigolo, and everything else.”

As they’ve successfully hacked Lisa’s phone, Hugo immediately tells them to record it.

“I don’t want to go on with this conversation.” Jakarta walks out to leave.

“You have fucking balls to tell us you’re mourning about your boyfriend. You didn’t seem to be mourning when you asked me to push you against the wall. I didn’t see you kissing the rosary between your fingers.” 

She turns back at him and grabs his collar, “if you ever talk to me again that way, I’ll smash your face.” She storms off.

“Change to the front camera.” Hugo orders.

Accra looks over to Lisa, immediately mad, “What the fuck are you doing?!” 

Lisa panics, “no, No! Wait!” 

Accra grabs her wrist and pulls the phone away, throwing it. 

Even though the footage was shaky, Hugo tells the worker to rewind it. 

“Stop it there. Double the pixels.” He smiles, “Rodrigo. We got him.” 

On the screen was Accra’s angry face.

* * *

As Kyoto accompanied the other man to go to the bathroom, Seung Hyun started laughing.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Calvin asked.

“We’re gonna die. They’re gonna use this tunnel to escape and we would get fucking slaughtered.”

Calvin furrowed his eyebrows, “shut up. You don’t know anything.” The younger one said.

Seung Hyun shakes his head, “no, _ you _ don’t know anything. Do you really think those assholes are going to set us free only to identify them to the police? No! And I’m tired of waiting here so we need to protect ourselves, we need to look for weapons.” He grabs the flashlight, “well? Come on!” he pulls Calvin’s arm to explore the basement.

“You call me at six in the morning and leave a confusing message, you resign and leave sixty-seven hostages in the damn bank and expect me to find another inspector to be in charge of the fucking case within hours?” The superintendent asked Seokjin. 

He sighs, “I’m sorry, I will be in charge of the case.”

“Listen, Seokjin. There’s a lot of people higher than you. National Security, the Foreign Office, CNI, but, remember this. You’re the only person I know who can solve this without violence.” 

Seokjin gulps, “I’ll go back to the tent.” 

“Good. We have the face of one of the robbers.”

Calvin and Seung Hyun stopped in front of a stash hidden under a huge cloth, “well? Go on then, Captain. Go take a look.” Seung Hyun pushes him.

Calvin raised the cloth only to find containers, “it smells like gasoline, there’s also ammo in here.” 

Seung Hyun grabs his hair, “Jesus Christ.” He whispered. 

Calvin opens a box, “are these drugs?” He holds the package up, “it looks like heroin. It’s fucking heroin.” Calvin says and faces it to Seung Hyun, it has a wire at the back. 

“FUCKING— Leave that right now! It’s a plastic explosive.” 

The two hear footsteps coming closer and immediately run back to their spots. 

“Can you two tell me why the fuck don’t I hear those machines working?” 

Seung Hyun fakes a cough, “we are resting.” 

“You rest when I tell you to rest. Now get back to work.”

As Seokjin arrived at the scene, he was met with a lot of reporters shoving cameras and microphones to his face, “Inspector, is there tension between the Police and the Intelligence?” 

But only one comment mattered to him.

“Were the negotiations cancelled because of your family situation after your complaint about ill-treatment?” 

Seokjin turns around, “excuse me?” 

Everything was muffled and he slowly heard Rodrigo’s voice as he took him away from them.

“How the fuck did they know that?” Seokjin asked annoyedly.

“I don’t know.” The other replied. The moment both of them arrived at the tent, they were met with the Colonel.

“Do you have a minute?” Seokjin asked, the older nodded. 

“Listen, I’ve been a bit nervous these last hours, but I’d like our relationship to be a little smoother. I think both of us can contribute a lot to this crisis, and that would require us to work together.” Seokjin said.

“I appreciate your _ mea culpa_, so here I am. But I want you to know before there are any misunderstandings, I am a married man.” Hugo smirks.

Seokjin looks at him with disgust and turns around.

“Jin. Jin, there's a male, not older than twenty-five. We recorded him through Lisa Manoban’s phone.” Rodrigo gives him the file.

“And the identity?” 

“We’re on it, facial recognition is checking.” 

Seokjin walks over to the monitors, “I want to see the whole video.” 

“We couldn’t get more than six seconds.” The worker said.

“Stop it there,” Seokjin orders, it stops on the frame where you can see Accra’s gun and the phones in the background.

“It looks like a Makarov.” Hugo said.

“No. It’s a Strizh nine millimeters, it’s also Russian. It’s rare to see them here.” Rodrigo noted.

“Then go to the judicial police to question all the informers from the East in control of the black market. I’m assuming all of those phones belong to the hostages?” Seokjin asks.

“In about an hour or two we could probably get this guy’s identity.”

Seokjin shakes his head, “no. We aren’t waiting.” Seokjin grabs the chair and picks the phone up calling the Professor, as it rings he loosens his tie. 

As usual, the Professor takes his time and grabs an origami paper, adjusting his glasses, he picks up the phone. 

“Such a special connection, don’t you think? I was just about to call you, at this very moment.” He says.

“Well, considering I’m the negotiator and you’re the robber…” Seokjin trails off. 

“But we shouldn’t allow this crime to interfere with our relationship. Don’t know about you, but I see this as a chance.” The Professor says folding the paper.

“A chance for what?” Seokjin asked.

“To get to know each other.” The Professor smiled, “I assure you that if we had met in a bar, you wouldn’t have paid any attention to me. Unless I tried…” 

Seokjin looks around him, Rodrigo, Miguel, and Hugo listening to the call behind him. 

“Tell me, Inspector. Have you ever faked an orgasm?” 

Seokjin gulps, the three men not making eye contact with him, “no,” he replied shortly.

“Please, Inspector. I beg you, don’t lie to me. Think about it.” 

Seokjin closes his eyes, “it’s a bit hard to fake an orgasm as a guy, no? But, maybe yes. Maybe I’ve done it.” 

The Professor hums, “you’re not lying, right? Just like last evening’s intervention, with three elite corps.”

Seokjin looks at Hugo and Miguel. 

“You know you’ll put innocent people at risk, I don’t think you want that.” 

“You’re right, I don’t. Now tell me, why did you want to call me?” Seokjin asked.

“Because I miss your voice…” the Professor smiled.

“Wha—” 

“Look, we need food, adoption papers, and some medicine, insulin, sertraline, anxiolytics, and albuterol.” The Professor listed.

“Adoption papers?” Seokjin furrowed his eyebrows.

“It’s the hostage’s request. We all have personal problems, don’t you think?” 

Seokjin licks his lips, “okay, we will give those to you.” 

“Civil Protection will make the delivery, in transparent bags to avoid any hidden weapons. And what about you? You called me for—” 

Seokjin cuts him off, “for you to surrender immediately. I’ve got images from inside. I’ve got the identity of one of your men. If I keep pulling on the thread, I’ll know the identity of the rest.” 

The Professor smiled, “Inspector, I think—”

“I’m offering you a deal with the public prosecutor. I can lower your sentences from sixteen years to eight. Nobody has died and that gives me a little margin.” Seokjin bargained.

“I don’t think it’s a fair deal, we lose either way.” The Professor said.

“You already lost. Look, in the unlikely scenario you get out of there, your faces would be in police stations and borders, you don’t have Plan B.” 

The Professor scoffs, “then we’ll activate Plan C.”

“You think I’m bluffing right?” Seokjin asked.

“Well, yes.” the other replied frankly.

“Then I’ll tell you something so you see I’m not lying. You have sixty-seven mobile phones attached with velcro on the wall. With that, the hostages’ names on the bottom.” Seokjin stops, “I’ll give you one hour.” He says as he hangs up the phone. 

As the Professor hears the line ringing in one note, he lets out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding.

* * *

“We have to guide the police through this, I have a spare phone in my office, it’s on a coat that's hanging on a hanger.” Seung Hyun tells Calvin.

“No, no way. Don’t you think they're gonna shoot the moment they see me sneaking around?” The younger pushes him.

“You have to fucking do it! You have forty seconds—” 

“Why aren’t those machines working, damnit?!” Kyoto shouts.

Seung Hyun pours the water in the bottle all over himself and lies down.

“I’m sorry, he can’t go on any longer.” Calvin says as his hands go up.

“Then you keep working, and you come with me.” Kyoto pulls Seung Hyun up.

The Professor immediately calls his team, after a few rings, he sees Cairo walking up to the phone and answering it, facing the security camera.

“Cairo, they have an image of all the phones on the wall.” 

Confusion is clear on Cairo’s face.

“There are no other security cameras there, right?” he starts ripping his origami.

“No, of course not. Only the ones we set.” Cairo answered.

“Then it’s one of the hostages. You missed a phone, so find it, or we’re screwed.” The Professor says, standing up.

“Give me permission to punish them. Either we scare them or they’ll keep playing as heroes.” Cairo says calmly.

“What kind of punishment?” 

“An execution, for example.”

“No… Find that fucking phone.” The Professor says, hanging up.

* * *

As the hostages pass each other bottles of water, Kyoto pushes Seung Hyun to the line and he stumbles near Yoongi to sit. 

The older sighs, “listen Yoongi,” he speaks in Korean, “I’m sorry for what I said yesterday, it was unnecessary and I was an asshole… I was never a brave guy, you know? Spent all of my life listening to what others wanted from me. It took me being in a situation with guns and fucking bullets to realize what I want… us. A relationship, you can get the baby as soon as it’s born and we can start a family together. I can be the other father, and the moment we get out of here we start a new family.” 

Yoongi suddenly looks at him, “what do you mean when we get out of here?” He asked, confused. 

“They’re digging a tunnel, they have lots of plastic explosives and petrol containers. There’s only one way to get out, contact the police and guide them through the assault.” Seung Hyun holds his hand.

“Stand up!” Cairo says, walking in with Resita. As the hostages stand up. 

Seung Hyun continues, “I’ve got a phone in my office, in my coat. I don’t know how to get there.” 

Cairo starts walking down the line.

“I can go.” Yoongi whispers.

“No— No don’t fucking do it.” Seung Hyun whispers.

“There is always a hero, who thinks they can save the others.” Cairo stops in front of Seung Hyun, “someone who thinks they can contact the police without anyone knowing.” Cairo walks toward Lisa and starts clapping, “well, congratulations. Because one of you made it. Recorded and sent it to the police.” 

Lisa looks down, Accra furrows his eyebrows. 

“Kim Jongin, born in South Korea. Immigrated in Getafe, Spain. He’s an alarm expert, and worked for two years in security companies. He’s associated with the robbery in the mansion of Geneva. He’s got a warrant issued by the Interpol.” Rodrigo reads through the file as Seokjin listens.

“So, I’d like to give them the chance to step forward, so everyone could thank them for being a hero.” Cairo says.

“He must’ve visited the bank to study the alarm systems.” Seokjin licks his lips, “check the hard drives of the security company. With luck, we could probably see him with some of his gang members.”

“Resita,” Cairo calls him over, he points to an old man who accompanied Calvin and Seung Hyun to dig earlier. “Undress him.” 

Resita pulls the man in front of the line and starts doing so.

“What are you doing?” Jakarta whispered to Cairo, however, she was ignored. 

“One of you… it was one of you.” Cairo squints his eyes and stops by Yoongi, “Sucre. Undress him.” 

Sucre looks at Jakarta, he shakes his head but still follows the order, he goes in the line and gently pushes Yoongi in front. 

Cairo stops in front of Lisa, “you recorded a video. In the phone room, right?” 

Sucre doesn’t look as he unzips Yoongi’s jumper, however, the smaller of the two started to hyperventilate.

“What’s wrong?” Sucre asked.

“I-I can’t breathe. Bring me to a-another room.” Yoongi replied, holding the other’s forearm. 

“Cairo, I’m bringing him in with the girls.” 

Cairo ignored him and flicks Lisa’s zipper, however, he was stopped by Accra. 

“Cairo, wait. I know what happened.” He whispered.

  
  


“I got distracted for a while and I saw Lisa trying to erase the fucking photo, that’s all. A mistake, that’s it.” Accra says as they walk through a hallway. 

Cairo giggles, “do you have an attention deficit? Because if you’re one of those kids with problems, I should be the first to know.” The older says, grabbing the back of Accra’s neck.

“I don’t. Jakarta came in, all right? And we argued, that’s it.” 

Cairo hums, “it all comes down to sentimental reason.” The two of them are now in the loading area. “You don’t know how much you remind me of myself. I was eighteen, my French teacher was forty-four.”

Accra cringes, “Jakarta isn’t forty-four years old.” 

Cairo scoffs, “she’s what? Fifteen years older than you. When you’re with an older woman everything seems much… better. They’ve got experience teenage girls don’t have, and they’re even more grateful than the ugly ones. Older women give it to you like it’s their birthday, you know why?” 

Accra shakes his head.

“Because, with you they savour their lost youth, before tumbling down the slope of age.” 

The moment Accra looks forward, he sees Resita with his gun. Accra immediately ran the other way but was body-slammed to the ground by Arad. 

“But then again…” Cairo continued, walking over to him, “our love stories are different.”

He grabs Accra’s hair and forces him to face him, “I wasn’t risking my partner’s life in a damn robbery.” He lets go and faces the other two, “you know what to do.” Cairo says in Korean and walks away. 

Resita and Arad adjust their guns, as Accra cried.

“An assault to the epicenter of money, the most outstanding robbery ever. It caught the eye of international waters.” Seokjin reads the article, he sighs and faces Rodrigo. 

“Well, what do you think? You want some coffee?” Rodrigo asked Seokjin to let go of the article, “I’m going on a break, I’ll be back fifteen minutes.” 

Rodrigo takes the pager and announces, “the Inspector is going on a break, clear the way for him.” 

The Professor hears this and pauses.

* * *

The police officers approach the building with large amounts of food and the hostages’ requests, before Kyoto opens the gate, Cairo adjusts the gun of a hostage, the two police officers come in and stop. 

“Leave the boxes on the ground and go back really slowly.” The hostage said, voice muffled because of the mask.

The two leave slowly and Kyoto presses the button to close the gate.

Cairo grabs the bag and gives it to Sucre whom he ordered to deliver to the people who need it upstairs.

Sucre notices the papers and reads through it, he rolls it up and puts it inside his jumpsuit. 

Yoongi was sitting down a few feet away from Seung Hyun’s coat, the women who needed the medicine were in the office with him, Arad was in charge of guarding them. 

“M-may I?” Yoongi points to the water bottles in front of Arad’s desk, he nods. 

Yoongi slowly walks over and takes too long to go back to his seat.

“Sit down.” Arad commands.

Yoongi pauses. 

Arad slams the desk very hard, “I said sit down!” 

Yoongi turns behind and drops his water bottle, he discreetly slips his hand to the coat and feels the phone, and immediately hides the phone into his jumper’s pocket, as he stands up, his eyes meet Sucre’s. 

“The medicines are here.” He shows the bag.

Yoongi starts to get nervous.

“Pass them out.” Sucre orders the hostage and gives her the bag, he then points to Yoongi, “you, come with me.” The two go outside, and as Sucre lights his cigarette he turns to him, “I know it’s not my business, but I have to ask you a question.”

* * *

Seokjin has finished his lunch, he went back to the same diner and looks at the TV. 

“The kidnappers have been locked up…” 

Seokjin sighs as he decides to ignore it, he did not notice that the Professor was behind him.

“They’re not leaving that place, right?” 

Seokjin turns around.

“They’re probably so desperate to do something like that.”

“That’s what makes them so dangerous.” Seokjin replied, he stood up to go to the bar and asked for the bill. 

“Hey,” the man with glasses gulps, “do you by any chance know how many kidnappers are there? Some say they’re seven…” 

Seokjin’s phone rings and he faces the other way, “what happened?” he asked.

“The boy was at the museum.” Rodrigo replied.

“How long ago?” 

“Three months ago, the cameras got him as part of a guided tour.” 

The Professor eavesdropped.

“Was he alone?” Seokjin asked.

“No, you were right, he was with someone. Listen, we got another photo from judiciary police, you should receive it right now.” Rodrigo hangs up, as the picture loads the Professor tries to see Seokjin’s phone, however, Seokjin decides to twist the other’s hands behind his back and shoves him against the bar, the Professor screamed.

“Where do you have it?” Seokjin asked, patting him down.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“Where’s the recorder? It’s such a coincidence you’re here every day asking me questions.” Seokjin turns him around to face him.

The Professor puts his hands up, “I don’t know—” 

“Who do you work for? Who do you fucking work for?!” 

“I’m not a journalist! My name is Salvador Martín, you can even look at my wallet! Antonio, please.” He looks behind him at the bartender.

“What’s the matter, Salva?” 

Seokjin takes his hands off him.

“I don’t know.” The Professor said with a worried face.

“Listen, sir. I know him, he comes here every day. He’s a regular.”

Seokjin looks guilty as hurriedly storms off the place, leaving the Professor breathing heavily.

* * *

“Don’t you need some money for the baby? Being a secretary doesn’t pay much.” Sucre says.

Yoongi starts becoming confused.

“Here.” Sucre says, he puts his hand inside his pockets, grabbing a wad of cash, “twenty thousand euros enough for you to buy some diapers, milk, and pay their tuition ‘till university.” He started shoving them inside Yoongi’s jumper.

“Listen, just give me the papers, please.” Yoongi says.

“Hey, I don’t know what’s going to happen outside all of this, but I want you to know you’re doing a great thing. I want you to know that you have a generous soul and you will take care of that child, you take out of damn awful fucking place, you hear me?” Sucre’s eyes started to tear up, “you have to promise me you will give that baby a good life, and for them to not end up like my brother and me, stuck in a damn robbery.” 

Yoongi nods, “thank you, but I don’t even know when the mother will put the baby up for adoption. She’s in the hospital right now, I wanted the papers just in case I’m not there.”

They both hear footsteps approaching them. 

“What’s going on?” Cairo asks.

Sucre looks at him, “I’m about to give him the adoption papers.”

Cairo raises an eyebrow, “And what? He needs assistance to hold a pen?” 

Yoongi looks down.

“Well, it’s his decision to go and sign it, yeah?” Sucre asked, opening his jumper to retrieve the rolled papers and hands it to Yoongi.

“Thank you.” He whispers, he is about to go back to the office but Cairo holds his shoulder.

“If you decide to go on with it, congratulations on the new kid.” He smiles.

Yoongi nods and walks away slowly. 

There was silence in the hallway but it was interrupted by a small ping from a phone.

Yoongi stops, and his breath picks up, Sucre looks at him and Cairo slowly walks backwards to meet Yoongi. He looks at his eyes and unzips his jumpsuit, he looks inside his shirt where the money was hidden, “and the phone?” Cairo asked.

Yoongi started to cry and did not move, Cairo pats him down and grabs the phone from his pocket. 

Cairo calmly walks over to Sucre, “what will happen with our authority when I tell the others?” his facial expression blank, “you have to kill him.” Cairo whispers to Sucre and leaves. 

“Fucking damnit.” Sucre whispers, he grabs Yoongi and lifts him up to another place.

“I— No! Please!”

* * *

As Jakarta, Citadel, and Resita help the hostages with food, Jakarta sees Accra limping, clutching his stomach. She walks over to him and lifts his shirt, bruises decorated his chest to his stomach. 

_ For the first time, I realized there was something that had always been wrong in all my love affairs. They had always taken care of me. But this time it would be different. _

Jakarta loaded her gun and started shooting the security cameras on their floor. 

Citadel drops a box in shock, “Jakarta?! What the fuck are you doing?! Jesus! Go find Cairo!” She tells Resita.

Jakarta goes up the stairs and shoots another camera, the Professor watches as they go offline. 

Sucre pushes Yoongi inside of the bathroom, he cannot look into the other’s eyes. He feels guilty as he closes the door.

Jakarta goes up to the staff room and calls the Professor, he picks up immediately. 

“Listen to me. If anybody touches him again, I swear to God the next shot will be held against Resita, Cairo, or you. You’re out there, _free_, while we’re risking our fucking lives inside this damn place.” 

Resita and Arad come in through another door with their guns out, “put your pistol down, Jakarta.” Resita says.

She screams in frustration and points her gun towards them. 

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?!” Cairo asked, going inside the room, Jakarta pointed her gun to him.

“Resita put the gun down.” Cairo says looking at him.

“If she hurts you, I shoot.” Resita says.

“Please don’t do it. Please.” Yoongi begs.

“Why did you have to get that fucking phone?” Sucre asked, his finger on the trigger.

Yoongi shakes his head. 

“Why the hell did you have to trick me?” 

“Jakarta! Don’t!” Accra screams as he runs to Cairo, the older man pushes him to the ground. 

“Where do you think you’re going? You did more than enough today.” Cairo then turns to Resita, “Resita. Put the gun down.” he says in Serbian. 

“Do you know what happens if I don’t kill you?” Sucre asked Yoongi as he pushes the other to the wall. “They’ll kill me.” 

Yoongi shakes his head, whimpering.

“Then they’ll kill you.”

Jakarta faced the camera again and started screaming.

_ I wasn’t even listening to my shouts, I only wanted to write a fucking love letter. While the guns and the gazes were pointing at me, reality fell like a concrete slab and I knew the five months during which I had believed in something were over. _

“Your love story has fucked up your escape plan. They’ve got you, and Accra too. The police know who you are.” The Professor said, no emotion in his voice. 

She lowers the gun and Accra looks up at the camera. 

“You’re in every news program. Think about that, Jennie.” He hangs up the phone and she drops the gun.

“For fuck’s sake man. Come on. You can do it.” Sucre takes a deep breath and bites his knuckles.

“On your knees.” Sucre orders, pointing the gun at Yoongi. “Don’t look at me.” 

Yoongi starts crying even harder, “please,” he whispers. 

Sucre groans, “Why didn’t you just run after you got the papers?!” He starts to pace around the bathroom, “come on, you can do it.” He muttered to himself.

Yoongi whimpers, “please, don’t do it. You opened up to me earlier about your past! You seem like you don’t even want to be part of—” 

Sucre punches the wall, “SHUT UP! DON’T ASSUME SHIT!” 

Yoongi bites his lip and wipes his tears.

“Don’t look at me.” Sucre whispers as he comes closer, “kneel down.” 

Yoongi slowly lowers himself while looking at Sucre pleadingly. “What about my baby?” He begged, his voice wavering.

“Fucking— SHIT!” Sucre bangs on the wall.

“Please.” Yoongi sobs.

“DON’T LOOK AT ME DAMNIT!” 

Yoongi covers his ears and looks trembling and squeezing his eyes shut. 

Sucre takes a deep breath, he shoots.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for any mistakes :/


	4. MISFIRE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seokjin suffers a personal crisis with his ex-wife. The hostages are frightened by the gunshots they overheard. The thieves argue among themselves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> brief mentions of abuse,,

SATURDAY 12:30 PM

26TH HOUR OF THE HEIST

The gunshot echoed throughout the whole building, hostages screamed. Citadel grabs her gun in defense.

“What’s happening?!” The hostages collectively scrambled around the room, panic evident in their faces.

“Calm down, Jesus! Everyone shut up or we won’t get out alive, all right? You all need to grow some balls.” She complained, hiding her nervousness.

In the bathroom, Sucre starts to tear up. His hand shaking after the shot, he breathes heavily as he looks at the ground. Yoongi, still covering his ears, he’s having a hard time breathing, Sucre shot the tile next to him. 

He started to cry harder, “thank you,” he whimpered.

Sucre turns around so he wouldn’t face him. 

“Thank you,” Yoongi said slowly standing up.

“Shut up. Shut up!” Sucre threw his hands up in frustration.

“L-listen, tell them you killed me and you got rid of the body. I’ll hide.” Yoongi says, holding Sucre’s shoulders, the other faces him.

“And where the fuck will you hide?” Sucre sniffs.

“In Vault Two. I have access. Nobody can get in. Tell them you killed me.” Yoongi’s shaking hands hold Sucre’s neck.

“There’s no fucking blood, Yoongi.” Sucre slaps his hands off of him, he walks away to give them both space.

“Then shoot me here, come on. Shoot me on the hand.” Yoongi says.

“No, no. For fuck’s sake!” Sucre bumps his head on a stall’s door.

“Then shoot me on the shoulder!” Yoongi grabs his hand.

“The shoulder is too close to the lung. I can’t do that.” Sucre looks at him.

“Then my thigh! It will bleed a lot, my brother got hurt with an iron rod, it will work. Come on.” He pulls Sucre’s hand and he bends over slightly in front of the sink. 

Sucre points the gun to the back of Yoongi’s thigh, the smaller gulps, “bite my hand if you have to.” Sucre covers his mouth, Yoongi starts shaking and holds Sucre’s hand. 

He shoots again.

The second shot echoed once more, Cairo hearing the hostages' whimper. He turns around and heads upstairs.

Sucre gently lies Yoongi down.

“It’s okay, don’t be too loud.” 

Yoongi whimpers in pain, blood shooting out of his thigh, muffled cries coming out of his mouth. 

Cairo slowly walks up to the bathroom and opens the door. He sees Yoongi’s limp body facing away from him, and Sucre beside him.

“Two shots… Do you have a bad aim or do secretaries make you nervous?” He looks at the blood, spread all over Yoongi’s body.

“A man was on his knees begging for his life looking at you straight in the eye. Why don’t you do it then?!” Sucre grabs Cairo’s collar, “you’re a fucking bastard. You don’t want blood on your hands, but it’s fine on mine.” He lets go. 

“You touch me again and you’re next… in the basement, near the boiler room. You can put the body there, after that you can clean this up.”

* * *

In Seokjin’s house, his mother searches through notebooks and sticky notes on cabinets. With careful hands, she tries to find information. A sticky note on the kitchen counter, with her granddaughter’s name, Luca. 

“Luca? Honey? Where are you?” She goes to her grandchild’s room, no one is there. 

“Luca? Sweetheart?” She goes to her room and opens up her drawer, sticky notes decorated the inside. 

‘_ I don’t live in Gyeonggi Province anymore, I live in Madrid. _’

‘_ The bus to downtown is number twenty-one. _’

‘_ I have a son and a daughter. _’

‘_ The keys are in a drawer at the hall. _’

‘_ I live with Seokjin and Luca. _’

‘_ My brother is sick. _’

‘_ Luca’s mother has a restraining order against her. _’

‘_ Never let Luca’s mother go with her _.’

Her breath picks up.

* * *

Seokjin’s mother tries to call once again, her call went to the Professor’s mobile phone. 

He turns quickly to look at it ringing, “if you don’t mess with us, I’ll give those sixty-seven hostages in perfect health, once we’re in international waters. I assure you that it wasn’t my first choice. I hate the sea, fish, crabs, and sand. But life doesn’t always give you an easy way out, does it?” He hangs up. He walks towards the phone and answers it.

“I got a message from my son this morning from this phone. I don’t… I’m Kim Seokjin’s mother, and I can’t find him. Please, do you know where he is? It is urgent.” 

“We’re getting that truck to get them out of that death trap. It’ll be easier for us out in the open. Get the vehicles with the narcotic gas.” Colonel Hugo says.

Seokjin adjusts his tie, “they’re not coming out.” He takes off the headset.

“How do you know?” Hugo asks.

“They opened that vault, but they didn’t want the money.” He walks over to the file, “they waited for the police, they shot, dropped two bags that were coincidentally open causing the money to blow away on the street. They pretended to be trapped to gain two days of negotiation. But they’re inside with a purpose. With a Browning machine gun, red overalls, masks, and everything.” 

“They triggered the alarm two hours after they went in,” Rodrigo added.

“They used the money to create the illusion of a common heist, but it wasn’t,” Seokjin said.

“The ambassador's daughter is there too.” Rodrigo points out.

“And that’s why that man doesn’t hesitate. He’s in control because everything's going according to his plan.” Seokjin faces Hugo. 

“What plan is better than leaving with the eight million from the vault?” Hugo questions.

Seokjin pauses, “they’re printing their own unmarked money.”

* * *

Yoongi was being carried by Sucre, the man’s hand on his thigh trying to block off excess blood. Yoongi had his arms around Sucre’s neck, trying to fight the fatigue he’s going through. 

“It’s here, right?” Sucre asks.

Yoongi nods as he enters the code for the vault. 

Sucre keeps watch as he waits, the light on top of the vault turns green. 

Sucre immediately turns the gear for it to open, he sees the money inside of plastic bags and unopened boxes. 

This is where Yoongi will be hiding until they leave.

* * *

The Professor walks through the sea of interviewers with their cameras, on his hand, Seokjin’s mother on hold. 

He was immediately stopped by a police officer.

“You can’t pass.” 

He points towards the tent, “I have a phone call for Inspector Kim, Kim Seokjin.” 

The officer tries to take his phone away.

“It’s urgent and personal.” He stares them down, as the officer stays.

“_ It’s urgent _.” 

The officer looks at him and lets him through the fence, “spread your arms.” 

The Professor does what he was told, the phone still in his hand. 

“Come with me.” The officer pulls him towards the tent.

The workers’ signals go off, “an incoming call over the antenna.” 

“Record it, now.” Seokjin orders.

“A civilian is coming to the command post with Almansa. He asked for the Inspector. A private, _ urgent _matter.” The officer lets go of the Professor as they went inside.

“Excuse me, Inspector, but your mother’s on the phone. You called her on my phone, I’m assuming? I think it’s about your daughter.” He holds his phone out. 

Seokjin takes a deep breath and looks at the people around him, he grabs the phone and goes outside, “Mom?” 

“Son, it’s Luca. She left with her mother.”

“Stop recording!” Rodrigo shouts at the workers.

“She told me it’d only be for a while.”

“What?! Mom, what did you do?” Seokjin asked, frustrated.

“They haven’t come back yet.”

“Mom, she can only see Luca every fifteen days and can’t go in the house.” 

“I said stop recording for fuck’s sake!” Rodrigo tells them.

“We can’t.” One of the workers looked at him, 

“Then turn the volume down!” 

“Mom, how long ago did you think they would leave?”

“I think two hours ago, I’m so sorry, son. I forgot.” 

Seokjin sighs, “okay, wait for me there.” He hangs up as he gets in one of the police cars. The Professor’s phone with him.

The Professor stands awkwardly in the tent, looking at the people. “What a mess you have here, huh?” He asked jokingly.

Rodrigo looks at him with a blank expression. “Almansa, escort him out.”

* * *

“The shots you heard were caused by a situation with the police. It was caused by a hostage who didn’t follow my rules and tried to make a call.” Cairo says scrolling through the phone in his hand, “with this phone.” He plays the ringtone as Jakarta watches him. 

“So now I’m wondering,” he plays the ringtone once more, “if I have Mister Yoongi Min’s phone… who does this belong to?” He plays the ringtone again. 

Jakarta had enough and marched towards him in front of the line, “what the hell happened?” she asked.

“What are you talking about?” Cairo raised an eyebrow. 

“The shot. We all heard it.” She said whispering harshly.

Cairo’s face became stern, “_ not here _.” He said, grabbing her arm and they walked to the staff room.

  
  


“He had a fucking phone. What was I supposed to do? Spank him?” Cairo asked.

“Scare him, not kill him. Cut his fucking ear, like in the movies.” Citadel said.

“If he’d give information to the police, you’d be the one who got shot.” Cairo raised his voice.

“Who pulled the trigger?” Jakarta asked.

“Sucre. Too quick-tempered.” He replied drinking a glass of water.

“The Professor said no blood, that was one of the rules,” Accra said.

“Well, there’s been a change concerning hostage control, understand? And calm down, the public is on our side, and that’s not going to change. Because when they notice a hostage is missing, we won’t be here.” 

“And does the Professor know, huh?” Jakarta asked, her eyes going wide, “does he know you broke the first fucking rule?” 

Cairo hums, “you’re talking to me about rules? You, who almost killed an officer ‘cause of a fucking romance with a damn baby.” 

Accra shakes his head, he goes to the phone, “we have to call the Professor.” 

Cairo stops him, but Jakarta pulls her gun out, “Accra, call him.” 

Accra picks up the phone and it starts ringing. However, the Professor is not in the warehouse. 

As Jakarta and Cairo stare each other down, Accra gulps, “he’s not answering,” he hangs up the phone.

“We can’t be alert and be controlling everything for twenty-four hours. We need to eat, sleep, go to the bathroom. That’s why I’m in charge here. We’ll only get out of here if we’re professionals.” Cairo says.

Kyoto opens the door, “what the fuck was going on? Who shot?” He asked.

“Cairo ordered an execution,” Jakarta answered.

Kyoto gulps, “who shot?” His eyes wavering.

Accra sighs deeply, Cairo and Citadel stand still. 

“Your brother,” Jakarta says. 

Kyoto stood still and looked at the floor, eyes glistening with tears. He turns around and walks outside the door. His brother is now a murderer.

_A thief is, by definition, a habitual optimist. They always think everything’s going to be alright, but the first one to realize that was Kyoto. He’s an honest man, gives you confidence, takes care of you, and always shows an alluring smile._ _I was fond of him._

** _Jakarta was sweeping the floor, music from her earphones blasting. You can hear the faint beat as she hums to the song. _ **

** _Kyoto stops mopping, he looks and lightly taps her shoulder, “what are you listening to?” He asked._ **

** _She looked at him, and blinked. _ **

** _He took one of her earbuds, “what are you listening to?” He asked and put it back on her ear with a smile. _**

**_Jakarta tried to hide her laugh, she took both the earbuds out, “good music.” She replied. _ **

** _Kyoto nods, “do you know how music was invented?” _ **

** _Jakarta shakes her head._ **

** _The male hummed, “neither do I.” _ **

** _Jakarta chuckles as she shakes her head, “you and your brother are funny. You know that?” _ **

_ That day, Kyoto told me how he’d dragged his brother into this crazy heist. _

** _Kyoto stands still looking at the ground, “you know, my brother shouldn’t be here. But, um, when the Professor told me about the plan I dragged him with me.”_ **

** _Kyoto comes out of the penitentiary, a gym bag slung over his shoulder. He sees a car parked right up front, Sucre inside wearing a tank top in the driver’s seat. _ **

** _“Hey!” The older smiled, his lips forming into a heart._ **

** _Kyoto smiled and jogged over to open the car door. The moment he sat down, Sucre hugged him tightly, kissing his forehead. _ **

** _“Looks like you enjoyed the prison food, huh? You look a little bloated.” Sucre squinted._ **

** _Kyoto tsked, “don’t touch me, it’s just gas.” _ **

** _Sucre scoffed, “Gas? Sure.” _ **

** _Kyoto nodded, “and maybe a little bit of saturated fats, but that’s not really a problem is it? Do you have a cigarette?” _ **

** _Sucre grabs the one tucked behind his ear, however, he stops. “Haven’t you fucked up your lungs enough in the mines, Jimin?” _ **

** _Kyoto sighs, “what’s wrong, Hoseok?”_ **

** _“What do you mean? I’m just worried about you. You just got out of prison.” His smile didn’t reach his eyes._ **

** _“Don’t fool me, Hoseok. What’s wrong?” Kyoto asked, leaning towards him._ **

** _Sucre faces the wheel, grabbing it until his knuckles turn white, he breathes deeply. “I-I fucked up.”_ **

** _Kyoto looked at Jakarta in the middle of his story, “Sucre lost eight hundred pills which belong to someone called, Jackson, a shitty dealer from Alocorcón… apparently, someone stole them from his car.”_ **

** _“He has a boss, and he’s a lunatic… They break your nose, your legs so that everyone knows you stole drugs from the wrong man.” Sucre says, his voice getting weaker as he goes on. _ **

** _Kyoto puts his hands to his face and sighs. _ **

** _“Jimin, the deadline is tonight and I still don’t have the money.” _ **

** _Kyoto’s eyes start to tear up._ **

** _“And I swear to God, they stole them from my car, I didn’t sell any. I didn’t take them, Jimin, drugs make me sick. You know I would never do that, especially knowing what happened to mom.”_ **

** _“So rather than having his bones break you take him to print money with you?” Jakarta asks._ **

** _“Well, he’s already done the bad jobs. And now, it’s time for a big one.” Kyoto pauses for a moment, “and if everything goes well, I’m taking him to a country whose name we can’t even pronounce! Maybe even go visit our birth father’s country, back in Korea… without Jacksons or any pending cases. Start from scratch. A new beginning… but you know, with mojitos and beaches.” _ **

** _Jakarta smiles, “we weren’t supposed to know each other’s personal life, Kyoto.”_ **

** _Kyoto shrugs, “you can always forget about it.”_ **

  
  


Kyoto walks down the halls, searching for his brother. 

“Kyoto!” Cairo shouts as he draws his gun towards his back, “don’t make me shoot.”

Kyoto turns around and walks to him, “and then what? Shoot the others? Leaving you alone in this shit hole?” He follows the blood trail, leading him to the bathroom. He opens the door, Sucre, in his boxers trying to scrub the blood off his skin, hands cupping the water from the sink. Blood was everywhere.

“_Hyung _, did you kill that man?” Kyoto asked, his eyes not moving away from Sucre, Cairo follows, he stands behind Kyoto.

Sucre sees Cairo and shuts his mouth, he nods instead, looking guilty. 

Kyoto gulps, “I—” His breath suddenly picks up, he can’t breathe.

“_Ji _-Kyoto, what’s wrong?” Sucre turns the sink off, holding the younger’s hand.

Kyoto shakes his head pointing to his chest.

“What? I-is it a heart attack? What’s going on?” Sucre holds his hand tightly.

Cairo goes up to them, “lay him down, he’s having an anxiety attack.”

_ Lying on that floor full of blood, Kyoto knew there’d be no cocktails or any countries he couldn’t pronounce. He didn’t take Sucre there to save him from something, but to sink him in a hole from which he’d only emerge to be arrested or with a bullet to his chest. _

* * *

The hostages were still shaken by the gunshot, especially Seung Hyun. Did they shoot Yoongi? He hasn’t come back and it seems like an eternity. He breathes heavily with his hands to his mouth, as Accra passes by him, he grabs his shoulder. “Hey, the gunshot we heard earlier, is anyone hurt?”

Accra shakes his head, “no one got hurt.” He faces more of the hostages and says it again louder, “we only shot to convince them not to intervene. That’s it.”

* * *

“Mom,” Seokjin says, as he opens the door. 

His mother walked over to him, worry all over her eyes, “I’m sorry, son.” 

Seokjin hears giggles coming from the kitchen, it was his daughter, Luca. He walks towards the room and sees his ex-wife crouching down to Luca’s height, the little girl carrying a teddy bear.

“Dad! We went to an amusement park! It was so cool.” Luca comes up to him, showing the light brown bear. 

Seokjin forces a smile, “Mom, can you take Luca upstairs for a moment?” 

His mother nods and takes her granddaughter to her room.

“You violated the restraining order. Turn around and stand against the wall.” Seokjin tells his ex-wife, walking up to her without looking at her eyes.

“Seokjin, I’m her mother. You can’t just keep me away.” She holds her ground.

“You violated the restraining order. Turn around and stand against the wall.” He repeated.

“Are you seriously holding me back to see my own daughter?!”

Seokjin grabs her wrist to put her in handcuffs, however, she pulled her hand back and was about to turn around. However, Seokjin put his hand on his holster.

“You’re really about to point your gun at me?” She scoffs, she bumps his shoulder on her way out. 

Seokjin sighs, takes off his coat and runs his hands through his hair. The phone rings.

“Hey? Um, Inspector? This is Salva, I’m at the diner right now. I think you left with my phone, I was hoping to get it back?”

* * *

Kyoto’s eyes slowly open, he instantly sees Sucre and Citadel kneeling, looking down at him. 

“Hey, Kyoto? How do you feel?” His brother asked, holding his hand.

“Cold. I feel cold.” Kyoto groaned, still lying down on the ground.

Sucre faces Citadel, “go get a blanket, please.” 

Citadel nods and heads out of the bathroom.

“It’s probably because I was down digging the tunnel all day… eating those shitty sandwiches.” Kyoto chuckled.

Sucre smiled, “you’re okay now. Just rest.” 

He looks behind him, Cairo leaning against the wall, guilt obvious on his face.

Citadel comes back with a blanket and helps Sucre wrap it around the younger.

** _“Hey, what the fuck are you doing up at three-forty in the morning?” Sucre complains, walking up to his brother drinking wine. _**

**_Sucre adjusts the blanket wrapped around him and grabs a chair to sit next to Kyoto._ **

** _“I don’t really have an answer for you… unless you want to hear about a cat sneaking inside my room, me following the cat, ending up here in the balcony and looking at the view.” Kyoto sips his drink._ **

** _“Where’s the cat?” Sucre asked, looking around them. _ **

** _Kyoto points to the left, the cat swishing its tail looking up at the stars, he coughs, “um. Do you know why I left the mines?”_ **

** _“Of course I do, it's ‘cause of that shit eating your lungs. Symphilis.” Sucre said, confidently._ **

** _“Symphilis?” Kyoto looked at him, confused._ **

** _“Yeah. Symphilis.” Sucre looks at him._ **

** _“You’re so dumb— Silicosis.” Kyoto sighs._ **

** _“That’s what I said.” Sucre huffed, looking at the stars._ **

** _“But it’s not because of that. I left because of claustrophobia. I couldn’t stand being in that small hole.” Kyoto said, squirming in his seat. _ **

** _Sucre sits up, paying attention to him._ **

** _“Then I left, started stealing to make a living, and I ended up in prison. In and out.” Kyoto scoffed._ **

** _“Are you okay, Jimin?” Sucre asked, holding the other’s hand._ **

** _“Yeah, look where we’re at. The relaxing countryside with clean air.” Kyoto smiled._ **

** _“You know what? Fuck the gyms and nightclubs in our house, when we get the money we will buy an island. Sleep in separate huts because you snore too much.” Sucre grins._ **

** _Kyoto gasps lightly, “Me?! I snore too much?!” He points to himself._ **

Cairo gives Sucre another pillow. They moved Kyoto to the staff room, laying him down on the couch. 

Sucre adjusts the younger’s blanket, “rest well.” He whispered.

“Go finish cleaning up the bathroom, after that, you switch places with Resita for the hostages,” Cairo tells Sucre, resting his hand on the other’s shoulder. 

Sucre only looks at him and walks away, headed to the bathroom.

It was quiet in the room, Kyoto snores softly, tightly tucked in with his blanket. 

Cairo looks at him, his right hand involuntarily shaking, he sighs as he harshly shakes the tremor out of his hand, he opens and closes it into a fist. He walks up to the lamp and turns it off, leaving the room.

* * *

The Professor patiently waits at the booth, tapping his fingers on the table. He sees Seokjin and waves at him with an awkward smile.

“Sorry for stealing your phone.” Seokjin says as he sits in front of him, “I’m a mess lately.”

“No! I mean, no.” The Professor blinks, “you look good, I mean— don’t worry.” He bites his tongue, “I didn’t get any calls, so… it’s fine.” He coughs. “I know it’s not my business, but is your daughter okay?”

Seokjin licks his lips, “I stole your phone, frisked you, and almost arrested you, and you’re still worried about me?” 

“Well, you stole my phone. But it was an accident. You were stressed, and you have every right to be. And the frisk was…” He adjusts his glasses and leans in, “it was fun.” A faint blush, visible on his cheeks.

Seokjin bites his lip, trying to hide his smirk.

“What can I say? It was exciting. ‘_The recorder. Where’s the recorder?!’” _ The Professor imitates as he smiles.

Seokjin starts to laugh, “I’m sorry.” He smiles shyly.

“Then my arm was over here,” he puts his arm behind his back, “but after that, Antonio was too petrified, my drinks were given for free, so thank you.” He bows slightly.

Seokjin smiles, “I’m sorry again, but, yeah, my daughter is fine.” 

The Professor nods, “that’s good.” 

Seokjin looks at the table, “everything else, however, fucking sucks.” His tone changed completely, “my ex-wife came by the house and took Luca with her. I have a restraining order against her for abuse.” He starts fiddling his fingers.

The Professor’s eyebrow twitches, hiding his anger.

* * *

Sucre sneaks his way through where Yoongi is, supplies in a bag. He makes sure no one is following him and opens the vault, the assistant lying down on his side, blood still spread around his body.

Sucre closes the door and kneels down to him, “are you doing okay?”

Yoongi nods, “it still hurts a bit.”

Sucre looks at his thigh, “let’s adjust the tourniquet then… but, I think we should take your uniform off.”

Yoongi whimpers as he stands up, hands grabbing Sucre’s shoulders for balance, “I’ll need help.”

Sucre nods, helping him take his uniform off, eyes avoiding the man’s body. 

Yoongi’s only in his boxers, whimpering from the pain as Sucre helps him lie down slowly, he grabs a box cutter. “I think we should take out the bullet.”

“No, there are muscles, bones, and stuff. You’ll make a mess.” Yoongi grabs his thigh, eyes wide.

“Then I’ll be careful, we practiced just in case this happens,” Sucre explained.

“No, it’s fine.” Yoongi shakes his head

“It’s better out than in.” 

“No. Some people live okay with bullets in them. Even glass shards, it’s fine.” Yoongi pants heavily.

“Okay, okay. Um, I guess we can just cover the bleeding and see how you do then?” Sucre asked, putting the box cutter back and grabbing the alcohol.

As he cleans the wound Yoongi starts crying from the pain, Sucre decides to distract him, “you ever played that _ Operations _game as a kid? It’s just like this but, not really.” 

Yoongi scoffs and shakes his head.

“I have some medicine by the way. Painkillers, muscle relaxants…everything. Are you— do you have any conditions that might interfere with this? Or…” 

Yoongi just looks at him, dazed.

“Okay, I guess I’ll just read the pamphlet then? And you can just tell me?” Sucre says, he opens the box and starts to read the paper.

Kyoto wakes up, eyes tearing up as he dreamt about his brother killing an innocent man. He slowly stood up, his hands started to shake. He looks at the gun from his holster and takes it off, he puts it on top of the table. He walks downstairs, face blank as he passes by the hostages cleaning up their food. 

Resita looks at him, “Kyoto, where are you going?”

He keeps walking and pushes the button, the gates start to open as the light from the outside shines in.

“Kyoto!” Resita grabs Arad and both put their mask on, Sucre walks towards the main hall and hears the commotion, he runs towards his brother, both of them without the mask.

Jakarta and Accra immediately grab their guns, “Everyone on the ground! Now!”

“Sir, there are movements from the inside, the gates are opening.”

“Everyone get ready.”

“Kyoto! Cover your face!” Sucre shouts, tackling him to the ground both are on their sides. “What are you doing?!” The older man asked.

“We can’t see their faces, sir.”

“We see two hostages on the ground.”

“The back of his head is covering the other.”

“I have to get out of here,” Kyoto says, frustrated.

“Why?! You go out there and you'll get shot!” Sucre scolds.

“Record it.” Rodrigo orders.

“We have a shot.”

“It’s my fault. You shouldn’t be here. You shouldn’t have killed anyone.” Kyoto whispers, tears glistening in his eyes. He’s struggling to get out of Sucre’s hold.

“I request a green light, sir.”

Jakarta puts her mask on and runs to the button and pushes it.

“We can’t see their faces, sir. We don’t know if they are hostages.”

“Do I have a green light, sir?”

Rodrigo watches from the tent, the two faces still not revealed.

“You have to let me leave, hyung.” Kyoto’s voice breaks.

“No. No, I-I didn’t kill him.” Sucre whispers, shaking his head. 

Kyoto starts to cry.

“He’s hiding. I didn’t kill him.” Sucre repeats.

“The doors are closing, sir.”

“Don’t shoot.” Rodrigo orders.

The gate closes, everyone breathes heavily.

“We need to get you some fresh air later, okay?” Sucre reassured.

* * *

“I’m sorry that you went through… through an experience that… well,” the Professor paused, “well, if you need any help, I can give you my phone whenever you need it, a bodyguard with glasses, I may not be that muscular but I can hold my own.” He looked at Seokjin, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be joking around.”

Seokjin shakes his head, “no, don’t worry. In reality, it doesn’t start with a slap in the face… you fall in love with a charming and intelligent woman, who makes you feel like you’re the luckiest man in the world. And when she asks you to change your profile picture and use one with you and your daughter, you think it’s affectionate. But then she starts raising her voice, telling me to not go out with friends, accusing me of things I didn’t do.” His voice cracks.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don't want to.” The Professor says, adjusting his glasses.

“No, it’s okay. It feels like you're going down the stairs, like in those horror films where somebody goes down the basement and everybody thinks, _ don’t go down there. Don’t do it! _But I did. Then I got slapped, then a second time, and a third. Every time hurts more until you become numb to it. Then I got a divorce.” Seokjin sighed.

“You didn’t report her?” The Professor asked.

“No. Who would believe me? A man getting abused by his wife. It’s practically unheard of, besides, she’s a police officer, the most popular one at the station. I guess… I was ashamed to sit down in front of my boss and tell him about a year and a half of humiliation and beatings… I have a nine millimeter HK in my holster, but I don’t really know how to take care of myself.” Seokjin chuckled.

The Professor shakes his head, “no, don’t say that. There must be someone who can help you.”

Seokjin’s eyes started to tear up, “someone? Who’s going to help me?”

“Me.” The Professor gulps, “I don’t know how, but I can try to help you—” he looks down, Seokjin’s hand on top of his. “Um, I—You know, you can use my shoulder to lean on?” He asked, cringing at his words. The Professor’s eyes linger too much on their hands.

“Sorry, d-does that make you feel uncomfortable?” Seokjin asked as his hand drew back slowly.

“No! No, not at all. It’s just, _ new _.” The other said, adjusting his glasses, he softly takes Seokjin’s hand and puts it back on top of his. 

Seokjin smiles, “thanks.”

“Jin—” Rodrigo comes up behind them, Seokjin immediately takes his hand off. The Professor missed the other’s touch.

Rodrigo sees the action but decides to ignore it. “There was some movement earlier, we think it was two hostages.”

Seokjin stands up and nods, “we need to go.” He looks at the Professor one more time before leaving. 

Rodrigo looks at him once more, this time pissed off.

* * *

The hostages were in a line at a staircase that leads to the rooftop, near the door is Sucre with his gun.

“Listen, I know you all view me as a threat, however, this is a personal favor I’m asking, not as a thief.” He looks at Seung Hyun who has a slight smile on his face, “I want you all to have your hoods and masks on, and we will go out for fresh air. No one will call for any attention or send any signals. Understand? This will only take ten minutes.”

The hostages started nodding.

“We go out, breath, come back in. Got it?” He starts handing out their masks.

“What are you trying to do? Trying to distract the police? Seung Hyun asked.

“The police are all ready, so leave them alone and don’t poke the hornet’s nest,” Sucre says, his voice threatening.

“He’s using us as bait. He’s using us as bait,” Seung Hyun repeats his smiles, “they’ll throw us to the lion’s den and escape through another door.”

Sucre goes back to him, “we’re going out because we’re human. Because one of our teammates needs air, I won’t repeat myself again.” 

Seung Hyun quietly mocks him, “I won’t repeat myself again.”

“What world are we fucking living in, huh? One of us had an anxiety attack and you think you’re just bait? Nothing is going to happen because I am going with you.” Sucre says.

“W-why did they have an anxiety attack? Because of the shots right? It was the shots. Who did you kill?” Seung Hyun said quickly and pushed Sucre.

The hostages gasped and told him to stop. 

Sucre scoffed, cocking his gun, “open your mouth. Open your fucking mouth, Seung Hyun.” He orders, looking at him.

Seung Hyun shakes his head, lips sewn shut.

Sucre grabs his jaw and yanks it down, shoving his gun inside his mouth, choking him.

“Now. Raise your left hand if you’ll continue fucking around and assuming shit, raise your right hand if you’re going to keep your mouth shut. Now I don’t want to waste any of my bullets during my stay here, so I suggest you do the latter.” Sucre says, eyes not leaving Seung Hyun’s. 

Seung Hyun raises his right hand

“Sucre, leave it,” Kyoto whispered.

“He wasn’t a hostage.” Seokjin watches the video.

“How do you say so?” Rodrigo asked.

“Unless they are ultimate pacifists, they’d never let a hostage get so far without shooting him in the back. One of them wanted to turn himself in.”

Sucre opens the door, “it may not be the countryside, but we can work around it, no?” He asked Kyoto.

“You don’t have to do this for me.” The younger whispered.

“I remembered when our mom left, you had trouble breathing. You went out on the balcony to try and breathe every night. So it doesn’t matter, we are going out there, getting some fresh air, and when you’re calm, we’ll go back in.” Sucre says, holding his hand. “Everyone, masks on, hoods up. Seungri, stay close to me.” 

The hostages did as they were told and everyone calmly walked to the rooftop.

“Condor three to command. There’s movement on the roof.” 

“Miguel, get the snipers ready.” Seokjin orders as he and Rodrigo watch the masked Dalís walk through the door.

“Everyone in position,” Miguel says as he uses his pager.

“Full attention, we have visuals.”

“They’re moving.” 

“Kyoto, look, it’s a great fucking day. The sun’s out.” Sucre says as he points toward the beacon of light.

“It’s a big group, they’re walking on the roof.” The snipers say as the Professor listens, he calls Cairo, not even a second passed by, Cairo picks up the phone, “yes?”

“Why are they on the roof?” 

“Kyoto went to get some fresh air surrounded by hostages with fake guns. You know I wouldn’t give that a green light, but right now, my teammates are convincing me it’s a good idea.” Cairo calmly answered, looking at Jakarta and Accra with their guns pointed at him

“Well from now on, I don’t want anymore improvising. Keep me posted.” He hangs up and sighs.

“They’re still walking.”

“If you can’t keep your cool, forget about the million euros, and the garden filled with children, because you’ll screw it all up,” Cairo says, “you only have to do one thing, be professional.”

“Does this seem professional to you, huh?” Citadel asked, holding a single banknote. “This is a fucking bill that’s better than the bank. They can’t even trace it. A work of art. And you know why?”

“Enlighten me, Citadel.”

“Because it was made with care. I’m a professional. But do you know what to do when your brother freaks out in the middle of this heist? Are you a thief first before an older brother, huh? Cairo? Before a human being? Maybe for a shithead like you, it’s possible. But for me? I don’t think so.” She crumples the money and throws it at him.

“Did you kill that man?” Kyoto started to speak in Korean.

“No,” Sucre answered.

“Tell me the fucking truth.” 

“I didn’t! Cairo caught him with a phone, he ordered me to kill him. I had no choice.” Sucre whispered.

“You’re talking about Yoongi.” Seung Hyun pointed at the two as he also started to speak in Korean. “Yoongi. What did you do to him?”

“This isn’t a courtesy call, Professor. If you want me to be upfront, you should do the same.” Seokjin said.

“Everybody has the right to stretch their legs.” The Professor replied, “don’t you think I’m caring enough to let some hostages out for air? All I want is for them to return safely, and for you to give me what I want, that’s all.”

Seokjin hangs up on him.

“I repeat, they’re armed. Take cover.” The snipers said through the radio. 

“Requesting instructions.”

“What did you do?!” Seung Hyun shouted, pushing Sucre back. 

Kyoto grabs his shoulders, “get back in place!”

The hostages started panicking, “tell me where Yoongi is.” Seung Hyun demanded.

“Get back in line, damn it!” The hostages started to get frustrated with him.

Seokjin and Rodrigo watch as they see the masked Dalís scrambling on the rooftop.

“Requesting instructions.”

“You killed Yoongi,” Seung Hyun said in Spanish, grabbing his fake gun.

“Condor one. Target in sight. Requesting the green light.”

“On your knees,” Kyoto told Sucre.

“What?”

“The fucking snipers. Let them think we’re hostages.” Kyoto said, putting his hands up and knelt down slowly.

“He was about to adopt our baby!”

Sucre put his hands behind his head and also knelt down.

“Don’t fucking play with me. Stand up! I’m fucking talking to you!” Seung Hyun shouts, pointing his gun at them.

“Something’s happening.”

“Two of them are getting down.”

“They made them kneel for execution,” Rodrigo said, watching the camera.

“I need an order.”

“There are snipers. Everyone! On your knees!” Kyoto shouts.

Everyone started screaming and running, their knees scrape down to the ground.

“A lot of movements on the roof.”

“Condor three, one Dalí is aiming his gun at another.”

“I can see it clearly.”

The Professor takes off his glasses, his heart beating fast as he watches everyone on the roof running. Hostages kneeling down and covering their heads.

“They’re still on their knees, sir.”

“I need authorization,” Miguel said, looking at Seokjin.

“Requesting a green light.”

“I still have a shot.”

“They’re running.”

“What the fuck are you doing?!” Seung Hyun stomps his feet still pointing his gun at them.

“There are snipers you fucking dumbass!” Kyoto shouts at him, frustrated.

“Seokjin, please!” Miguel snarled.

“They’re going to execute them.” 

“Greenlight,” Seokjin said, eyes not leaving the camera.

“Condor three, open fire.” Miguel orders.

As Seung Hyun looks behind him, he receives a shot, knocking him down, his mask falls off his face.

The Professor watches, eyes wide, his breath stops.

“Target down.”

“We have a visual. 

The camera shows two Dalís grabbing the body shaking it.

“He’s the manager of the Royal Mint, Seung Hyun Lee,” Rodrigo reported. 

“Condor three, hold fire. Everyone hold fire.” Miguel ordered.

Seokjin breathes heavily, knowing he just shot the hostage.


	5. TROJAN HORSE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The thieves let a medical team enter the Fábrica, and an undercover policeman, Rodrigo, sneaks in with them. Can the Professor stay one step ahead of Seokjin?

SATURDAY 6:00 PM

Yoongi wakes up from his sleep, not aware of what has happened outside the vault.

As the bullet pierced Seung Hyun, Sucre and Kyoto immediately cover the wound as Resita runs to the rooftop.

Resita opens the door and commands the hostages to go downstairs. 

The two brothers carry Seung Hyun, rushing as his blood continues to flow out of his shoulder.

“Yes! This is so good Mister Escamilla!” Citadel praises the old man as she looks at the banknote with her loupe, “now, let’s do more, keep up the good work.” She smiles as Escamilla nods and walks away from her office.

“Resita! Come! Hurry, please.” Kyoto bites his lip as he carries Seung Hyun’s legs.

Resita runs with them downstairs, “What happened?” 

“He got shot, his shoulder is bleeding really bad.” Sucre grunts as he adjusts his grip on Seung Hyun’s top half. Resita runs faster to tell the others.

“You killed him. You killed Yoongi. All of you are fucking bastards!” Seung Hyun cries.

“Shut up! Stop fucking squirming and keep pressure on the damn wound!” Sucre growls in anger.

Citadel smiles as the money continues to grow, she stands up and changes the count on her board.

Jakarta rushes with the medical supplies in her hands, Resita, along with Accra pushing a cart towards Sucre and Kyoto.

“Water! I need water!” Seung Hyun chokes out, still grabbing his shoulder.

The two brothers lay him down and Jakarta immediately grabs the scissors.

"Seung Hyun, I need you to take your hand off your shoulder!” She starts to cut the uniform open to tend to the gunshot.

Kyoto’s eyes water as he looks at him.

“Ex-employees of a paper money factory have revealed the identity of the man hurt by the order of the police. It is Seung Hyun Lee, general manager of the factory, who has just been shot by the police forces while he was on the roof with the robbers. This event took place after thirty-two hours since the beginning of the kidnapping.” The reporters shared, on the TV screen, you can see several footage of Seokjin outside along with Rodrigo and several officers and snipers involved in the case.

32ND HOUR OF THE ROBBERY

“I need to talk to my wife, please. I really need to talk to Yoona.” Seung Hyun cried as he laid down on the cart.

_ They say that when we’re at Death’s door we’re finally able to see our life with clarity, and Seung Hyun Lee, losing a lot of blood on the table was waiting for that: Death’s clairvoyance. _

_ To find out once and for all who the love of his life is. Yoona, the woman with whom he has shared fifteen years of holy matrimony, or Yoongi, the man who’s his secretary and lover with whom he had deceived. _

_ Unfortunately, the only certainty Seung Hyun has at that moment was that if we didn’t take out the bullet, he’d kick the bucket before solving the enigma. And, frankly, our first aid courses weren’t a guarantee for living._

** _Accra is on his back, shirtless, as he is laid on top of a table as the Professor uses his body as an example._ **

** _“Inferior cava, right renal,” the Professor lists as he drags the blue marker on Accra’s chest, “the left, mesenteric, right pulmonary, left… this one's the heart.” He circles, “cava, subclavian, right and left.”_ **

** _Sucre and Kyoto look at the several lines and circles across the younger’s body, they know they won’t remember all of it. _ **

** _Resita and Arad try to pay attention, the lack of knowledge in human anatomy clear on their faces._ **

** _Cairo follows the marker on the Professor’s hand, he keeps up._ **

** _Citadel squints her eyes trying to memorize the parts._ **

** _And Jakarta pays no attention, only looking into Accra’s eyes, smiling._ **

** _“Brachial, humeral,” the Professor continues, his marker going off to Accra’s arm, he grabs his jaw and turns it to the left, “internal jugular,” he traces, “and the external jugular.” He looks at all of them and pauses, he adjusts his glasses. “Okay? Now, the red marker is for the main arteries.” He takes the cap off the marker._ **

** _“Hey, hey, hold on… do you really want us to learn medicine this way? With two markers?” Sucre asked._ **

** _“If anyone gets shot, they can’t go to the hospital. You all have to manage inside.” The Professor licked his lips._ **

** _“That’s fucking suicide,” Sucre whispers._ **

** _“Sucre…” Kyoto looks at him._ **

** _“Locking ourselves there is already one thing, the other is we die.” Sucre looks at his brother._ **

** _“Sucre.” Kyoto glares._ **

** _“He’s only asking you to learn how to take out a bullet. Don’t start with ‘the epic tales about the outskirts.’” Cairo looked towards Sucre._ **

** _“It shouldn’t be that hard, get the pliers, take the bullet, and boom. You’re done, just don’t screw it up.” Citadel raises both her hands, waving it around._ **

** _“You already screwed up if someone gets shot.” Sucre murmurs. _ **

** _“No one will go out,” the Professor says, sternly, “anyone in this room is a clue and a thread that can be pulled. So if anyone wants to resign, this is the moment.” He pauses and looks around the room with an intimidating stare._ **

** _“Um, will the lesson end soon? My dick is starting to shrink like Resita’s.” Accra giggles._ **

** _“Hey! What did you say about my willy?” Resita furrowed his eyebrows, everyone started to laugh._ **

** _The Professor sighs, “enough. Enough.”_ **

** _Resita grabs his belt, “do you want to see my willy?” _ **

** _“Please. Stop.” The Professor puts a hand on his forehead, “Accra get dressed. Someone else lie here, please.”_ **

** _Citadel immediately takes a seat on the table, “this is fine, right?” She asks as she takes off her shirt._ **

** _“Oh, she’s sexy,” Jakarta smirks, tapping Cairo’s crossed arms, “don’t you think so, Cairo?”_ **

** _Cairo looks into Jakarta’s eyes, showing no interest at the woman lying down on the table._ **

** _“Jakarta, show me what you’ve learned.” The Professor said, giving her the marker. _ **

** _Jakarta takes it and starts drawing lines on Citadel’s body._ **

_ As we continue to play doctors, I found out Citadel was more interesting than she seemed. And although nobody knew anything about anyone… _

** _“Abdominal aorta.” Jakarta continues, as she goes down Citadel’s stomach, nearing the bottom of the other’s abdomen, she sees a long scar barely seen as it is hidden by Citadel’s pants. Jakarta pauses._ **

_ What I never suspected was that Citadel had a child. As it seemed by her C-section scar. _

** _Jakarta tried to lower Citadel’s pants, her hand was immediately slapped away by the older._ **

** _“Hey, what the fuck are you doing, girl?” Citadel sits up._ **

** _“Hey. Hey, chill!” Jakarta raises her hands up._ **

** _“No, seriously. What the fuck were you doing? Trying to lower my damn pants like that. The disrespect.” Citadel snarls, rolling her eyes, “you don’t even need to go down that far.”_ **

** _Cairo steps in front of the two, grabbing Citadel’s arms as she tries to push Jakarta._ **

** _“Hey! What the fuck!” Jakarta then starts to flail around, trying to hit her, “let me get a hit on her!” Accra and the Professor hold Jakarta back._ **

* * *

“Jin. The Minister is on the phone. What should I tell them? Jin?” Rodrigo’s voice echoes into Seokjin’s ear, the inspector is still, eyes not moving away from the camera. He pays no attention to anyone, his face blank.

Miguel shakes him lightly, “hey. What are we telling them?”

Seokjin blinks a few times, and slowly faces the two men, “tell them I—” he sighs. “Tell them I gave the green light. And, the wounded man is a hostage.” He gulps, “and, just hang up the phone.” He sighs heavily.

“Hey, he looked like a robber, I asked for the green light and insisted on it. Don’t think about it too much.” Miguel said.

“Inspector, the ambulance is ready.”

Seokjin faces the phone, “let’s talk to the kidnappers.” He loosens his tie and grabs the headset.

“Listen, it looked like he would execute them, we had to decide and there was no time, Hugo. You were there!” Miguel glared at the Colonel.

“Be quiet!” Seokjin shouted, glaring at the two. As the phone rings, Seokjin pinches his nose bridge as he waits.

The Professor waits before he picks up, and when he does Seokjin’s heart speeds up.

“Professor—”

“You fired upon the hostages, and now he’s in a battle between life and death. I’m assuming that’s why you’re calling?”

“I got an ambulance to get the injured man out.” Seokjin leans over to the table.

“_Nobody _ is getting out of there.” The Professor replies with a commanding tone.

“You have to understand, that man is bleeding out,” Seokjin says, trying to reason with him.

“And that’s due to the bullet you shot.”

Hugo and Miguel look at each other in disappointment.

“And you’ll just let him die?” Seokjin asked.

The Professor pauses. 

Seokjin decides to continue, “let me get a medical team there…” he looks behind him, meeting Rodrigo’s eyes, “Professor, listen. I know it’s my fault, but if a hostage dies, it’ll be as awful for you as it is for me. Believe me when I tell you that within five minutes the public will know that hostage died because you didn’t let the medical team come in and save his life.” 

The Professor takes his glasses off and massages his nose bridge, he bites his inner cheek. 

All Seokjin and the team can hear is silence from the other line, Seokjin closes his eyes wishing he would accept his offer.

“Two surgeons and a nurse with surgical equipment. You have to let me know when they arrive.” 

Seokjin quietly exhales, “thank you.” 

“I also have something to ask… the injured man wants to talk to his wife.” After that, the Professor hangs up.

Seokjin closes his eyes, “locate Mister Lee’s wife for me, please… and how long will the medical team be here?”

“At least ten to fifteen minutes from La Paz,” Miguel answered. 

“Then get them here.” 

The three men only looked at him.

“Now!” Seokjin ordered, clearly stressed. The room starts to feel tight all of a sudden, the noises become unclear as each second passes, he slowly loses control over his breathing. Seokjin stands up, his hand on his forehead as he walks outside of the tent. Rodrigo looks at him, phone in hand.

As Seokjin comes out, he walks over to the ambulance, leaning his hand on the door. “Excuse me! Excuse me, please.” 

The worker stops by him and looks.

“C-can you please drive? It would just take a minute,” Seokjin starts panting.

“Of course, get in.” The worker opens the door for him, as he was about to close the other door, Rodrigo runs to get in.

“Jin!” Rodrigo squeezes through the door, he looks at him anxiously, “what’s wrong?”

Seokjin lies down on the bed, “I have to think.” He gulps, grabbing the oxygen mask, looking at him.

Rodrigo knocks on the window to signal the worker to drive, “hey, don’t look at me like that. I’m not leaving you alone.” He pats Seokjin’s shoulder as he feels the Inspector’s teardrop landing on his hand.

* * *

Sucre had a sleeping bag in his hand, Kyoto followed him with blankets. The two go downstairs to visit Yoongi. As they reached the vault, they noticed a small gap, it was open.

“What the fuck,” Sucre whispered, he drops the sleeping bag and opens the vault, Yoongi was nowhere to be seen.

“Where is he?” Kyoto asked, putting the supplies down.

“The bitch escaped.” Sucre muttered angrily.

  
  


Seokjin’s mom was folding clothes as she received a phone call from her son, “Seokjin! Are you coming home for dinner?” She smiled.

“I-I don’t know, mom.”

Her smile drops, hearing the sad tone in his voice. “What’s wrong?”

Seokjin started tearing up more, “Mom, I made a very big mistake at work.” He sniffed.

Her eyebrows raised, “well, honey. Your job is very difficult. It’s not that much of a big deal if you didn’t tell me right away, no? Tell me how your day went.”

“Um, well. I met this guy from the diner.” Seokjin sighed.

“Oh, that’s good. Do I know him?” 

“No. I don’t actually know him, but it didn’t last long. There was an accident at work. I had to come back to the tent, on top of the roof, I-I thought one of the hostages was in danger so I…” Seokjin’s tears started falling, “I ordered the sniper to shoot, and an innocent man was shot.”

“Oh yes, I’ve seen it on TV. But Seokjin, it is not your fault. Do not burden yourself.” She sits down.

“I-I don’t know what to do now. Should I tell his wife? Give a press conference? Resign?” Seokjin started to breathe heavily.

“Okay, well, first of all, listen. They’re there with masks and guns, locked up in the factory and you only wanted to protect the hostages, right? Son, let’s say it was an actual robber and a hostage, you could’ve saved a life. That’s it… Now, I didn’t know you’d meet up with strangers and have a drink with them.” She smiles softly.

Seokjin looks behind him, making sure Rodrigo didn’t hear his mother, “M-Mom, I don’t meet up with strangers.”

“Son. We have so little time in this world—”

“Mom, n-now is not the time,” Seokjin said, stopping his mom before he hears about her romance lectures, “what do I do with my work?”

She rolls her eyes, “oh, fuck the work. Why don’t you tell them you want to travel back to Asia and have some fun?! My god! The next thing I know is you fall in love and hold hands with the kidnapper!”

Seokjin chuckles, Rodrigo smiles as he looks at the other’s spirit-lifting up.

“But maybe… with that stranger, something might blossom into a beautiful… friendship? Maybe even a romance for heaven’s sake.” She shrugs her shoulders.

“Mom.” Seokjin giggles.

“Hey. Don’t laugh, I know what I’m talking about. You know I’ve been a widow for twenty years, time doesn’t stop… and it doesn’t go back either. So please, think about it.” She looks behind her, a picture with her late husband and Seokjin hugging her as she stands in the middle, she smiles softly.

Seokjin gives a small smile, “okay, Mom. I’ll think about it, and if it gets late just go to bed, alright?”

“Alright, and listen, how about you go to bed with someone too.” She scolds and hangs up the phone.

Seokjin looks at his phone and blinks. He can’t believe his mother just told him that.

She takes a sticky note and grabs a pen, writing down, _Seokjin likes a stranger_, with a smile.

* * *

** _Citadel hears a knock on her door. She opens it and her eyes immediately roll, “what the fuck do you want?” She asks Jakarta._ **

** _“I don’t know, I just saw that earlier and it caught my attention.” Jakarta points to her abdomen, “I didn’t know what it was.”_ **

** _“Okay? I forgive you. Now beat it.” Citadel closes the door and approaches her bed._ **

** _Jakarta opens the door and lets herself in, carrying a bag with her._ **

** _“The fuck are you doing? I need to go to bed.” Citadel complained._ **

** _Jakarta stands in front of her, “How old is your child?”_ **

** _Citadel sighs, “seven. He’s seven.”_ **

** _“Where is he? With his dad?” Jakarta slowly sat down at the edge._ **

** _Citadel chuckles, “With his dad? No, the dad wasn’t even there in the first place. I don’t know shit about him.”_ **

** _Jakarta looks down, “what’s your son’s name?”_ **

** _Citadel takes a deep breath, “Orion. His name is Orion, just like the brightest constellation in the night sky.”_ **

** _“Just like his mom.” Jakarta smiles._ **

** _“Orion has survived a lot of things you know. Like a cork in the middle of the sea, he never sinks… when he was three, I had to take him away from my mother’s house because her husband gave him Anisette when I wasn’t there, because his cries bothered him. So I took him away, only the two of us. He and I, and we were fucking great.” Citadel smiled, but she recollected herself and sighed, “then I screwed it all up. One day, I had to go get pills to sell.”_ **

** _Jakarta looks at her and stays quiet to listen._ **

** _“And, and then I left him alone. Just for five minutes, it was only five minutes and then— and he made a mess with the fucking Spider-Man, god! I fucking hate that guy so much because Orion wanted to be a superhero. He climbed everywhere. He climbed very well. Then he got to the window terrace and he got a small chair, started to wave. I looked up and he was there, ‘Mommy! Mommy!’” Citadel hauntingly repeated, eyes glistening._ **

** _Jakarta leans back, eyebrows raised._ **

** _“Next thing you know we had police patrol, the firemen… everyone. They caught me with the pills,” Citadel’s voice breaks, “with a record, without a job. And off to prison I go. So, my child started moving from foster family to the next, and as he got passed from hand to hand, I didn’t get shit. Not a visit, not a call, nothing.” She said angrily. “Got out of prison, and guess what? Nothing happened. They didn’t give him back to me.”_ **

** _Jakarta crosses her arms, “Did you ever see him again?”_ **

** _“No. But I know where he is, Canary Islands. He’s with a family that owns a hotel, he’s fine.” Citadel sighs._ **

** _“Are you going to get him?” Jakarta asked._ **

** _“I’m taking him and that’s final. We’re going to the other side of the world. And I’ll tell you something, in this robbery nobody’s going to screw it up, because if somebody makes a mess of it, I’ll destroy their life.” Citadel looks at her with piercing eyes._ **

** _“Out of all the plans the others have, your’s is the best.” Jakarta smiles, “and I’ll ask you something…” She reaches for the bag, “do you like Tequila?” She grins._ **

** _The two immediately started drinking and had a mini party as both let loose, ignoring all of their problems at the moment, they bonded through the music and started blasting the stereo._ **

** _The Professor opens the door, he’s wearing pajamas, he coughs loudly as he sees the two women in their cami and shorts, dancing around._ **

** _Jakarta widens her eyes and immediately stops the music, “Professor.”_ **

** _“It is four in the morning, and we have a lesson later. Plastic explosives.” The Professor said, calmly._ **

** _Jakarta put her hands together, pleading, “I’m sorry.”_ **

** _“Get to bed.” The Professor said._ **

** _“All three of us?” Citadel jokes._ **

** _“Each on their own bed.” He said looking at her._ **

** _“You look great with your pajamas, by the way.” Jakarta hides her smile._ **

** _“Get to bed, now.” The Professor said and left the room._ **

* * *

Sucre and Kyoto follow the trail of dried blood, leading them to the bathroom. Sucre holds his gun, checking each stall. As he approaches the last one, he sees Yoongi on his knees, puking on the toilet, his knuckles turning white with his grip.

“Yoongi, hey.” Sucre touches his shoulders, “what are you doing here? Are you crazy?!” He whispers harshly.

Yoongi coughed, “I wasn’t feeling very well.”

Kyoto walks over to the door and closes it, he slowly approaches Yoongi, putting a hand on his forehead, “Jesus, you’re burning up.”

“C-could you two leave me for a moment, please?” Yoongi asked, stomach not settling down anytime soon.

Sucre closes the stall and hears Yoongi coughing again, he sighs, “well, what do you think?”

“He’s not feeling well, he’s burning up, and he’s puking his guts out. If we don’t take that bullet out, he’s fucked.” Kyoto whispers as he points to the stall.

“Hey, it’s okay—”

“No. Why did you fucking shoot him?” Kyoto asked, leaning over to Sucre.

The older crosses his arms, “because Cairo was going to do it. I had no other choice.”

Kyoto shakes his head, “son of a bitch. If he wants to kill somebody, he should pull the trigger, not you… we came for a fucking robbery, goddamnit. Not to kill or save lives, fucking—”

Sucre grabs his shoulders, “hey! Hey. Jimin, calm down.” He whispers.

Kyoto slowly regains control over his breathing.

They both hear the toilet flush, Sucre knocks on the stall, “Yoongi, are you done?”

“Yes.” They both hear a quiet reply.

Sucre opens the door and carefully carries Yoongi up, Kyoto in front of the two with his gun, they all walk back to the vault.

The ambulance stops near the tent, Seokjin sighs, “let’s go.”

“Jin, wait. I need to talk to you,” Rodrigo pauses, “I want to infiltrate the medical team.”

Seokjin’s eyes widened, “no. Somebody’s getting in, but not you.”

“Sure. There’s always someone better than me for everything.” Rodrigo says sarcastically, “Jin. I’m a firearms expert. I can get there and, at a glance, know how many they have, what type, and if they’re fake or not. We can know who the robbers are.”

Seokjin sighs, “fine. You’re coming with me to tell the doctors. Now, let’s plan this thing.”

“I heard gunshots earlier,” Yoongi groaned, as he shifted his weight in Sucre’s arms.

Sucre gulps, “yeah, the police… they shot a hostage.”

Yoongi looks into his eyes, “a hostage?”

Sucre nods as he looks at Yoongi’s lips. 

Kyoto opens the vault and adjusts the blanket.

“Who?” Yoongi asked as they came in. Sucre ignores him, laying him down.

“The manager of the factory,” Kyoto replied, closing the vault.

Yoongi’s eyes widened, “Seung Hyun? I-Is he okay?”

“Yes, a medical team will arrive and he will get surgery,” Sucre replied calmly.

“Surgery?” Yoongi’s breath picks up, “y-you have to tell him I’m alive.”

“Hey, listen. Nobody will tell anybody because you’ll be fine, and he’ll be fine. Alright? Now just be calm.” Kyoto pats his hand, he starts to cut the bandage.

Yoongi’s voice wavers, “no, please. You have to understand, he’s going to blame himself. I-I took the phone because he told me to. And now I’m dead to him.” He says as he grabs Sucre’s hand, “please tell him I’m alive… a-and that we can be a family…” Yoongi whispered unsurely.

Sucre looks down, disappointed.

“Y-you signed the papers? For the kid?” Kyoto asked.

“Please tell him. Can you get a pen and a piece of paper for me?” Yoongi looks at Sucre.

Sucre gulps and does what he's told.

“I’ve decided to get our officers inside the building. I’ll do it by taking advantage of the medical intervention.” Seokjin tells Hugo and Miguel, as he stands next to Rodrigo.

“I celebrate these decisions you make during ambulance rides, Inspector. But my presence here responds only to the government’s wish that there is no violent outcome.” Hugo replies.

Seokjin’s eyebrows went up in surprise, “oh, what world do we live in? The CNI officer suddenly became a pacifist, what happened to Priority One? Weren’t you the one who wanted to get the tanks in there?”

“I wanted to catch them by surprise. Finish this soon. But now, my priority is zero victims, so I advise to negotiate and wait.” Hugo says and leaves.

Seokjin licks his lips, “so far the kidnappers have always been ahead of us. Everything was planned, except this shot. It’s the first thing not according to plan, so we must take advantage.” 

They walk over to the factory’s blueprint. 

“The only way to get in without being detected by their cameras is to advance along this tube in the subsoil that leads straight to the basement. It’s the ventilation nozzle.” Seokjin says, tracing over the drawing.

“That was added seven months ago to release the heat from pressing the money.” Miguel informed, “it’s a work in progress, the robbers probably don’t know about it.”

“I need two of your men to get in there,” Seokjin said.

“Officer Santiago Estrella, and I’ll go with him.” Miguel nods, along with Santiago.

“Okay. Deputy Inspector Rodrigo Lindez will go with the two surgeons and will get it as a nurse. At six o’ ten PM. Synchronize your watches.” Seokjin orders, “at six-fifteen PM the medical team will come in. According to the head of internal medicine, the surgery won’t take more than thirty minutes. But they can go on exactly until seven o’clock PM. When the doctors go out, there’ll be a big number of kidnappers to watch them. That’s when Miguel and Santiago will get in through the subsoil. They’ll get to the basement’s catch basin dressed in red overalls and Dalí masks, they will infiltrate the area. We’ll only be successful if we do it like clockwork.” 

“Inspector, Seung Hyun Lee’s wife is here.”

Seokjin looks at the woman, her eyes glistening as she rubs her arms, trying to comfort herself. 

“One moment please, Miguel get moving.” Seokjin ordered and the two officers went to change, “Rodrigo, take care of the doctors… and be careful.” 

Rodrigo nods.

Seokjin approaches the woman and offers his hand, she takes it, “I-Is my husband okay?” 

“Your husband is conscious and safe, he was shot by mistake,” Seokjin replied, calmly.

“Shot? What do you mean shot?”

“He’s injured, but alive. The kidnappers allowed us to bring in a medical team and he’ll have surgery immediately.” Seokjin pats her back.

“S-Sorry, I wasn't even listening.” She sniffs, clearly dissociated.

“That’s fine, you’re okay,” he pulls a chair, “sit down, please.”

She nods, “thank you.”

“You can talk to him right now if you want.” Seokjin hands her the headset, she nods.

“We must take out the bullet,” Kyoto says after looking at Yoongi’s thigh.

“You do it.” Sucre whispers, his voice weak as he looks at Yoongi writing on a piece of paper.

“Where’s the surgical kit the Professor gave us?” Kyoto asked.

Sucre sighs, “fuck. Cairo has it. I don’t think it’s a good idea to ask him for it.” 

A light bulb pops into Kyoto’s head, “the surgeons. The surgeons will have tools! Go steal that one instead.”

Sucre’s eyes widened, “okay. Okay.” He stands up.

“Wait! Wait,” Yoongi looks up at Sucre, “please give him the note.”

Sucre looks at his hand, hesitant, but grabs the note anyway. His fingertips touched the top of Yoongi’s hand. He gave him a small smile and walked away.

Kyoto coughed, “I’ll clean the wound now, okay?”

The Professor hears the phone ring and picks it up, “Hello?”

“Professor, Seung Hyun Lee’s wife is here.” Seokjin answered.

Seung Hyun lies down on top of the cart, his wound covered in bandages. He hears Cairo’s footsteps as the robber walks downstairs. 

“Seung Hyun, what’s your wife’s name?” Cairo asks, holding the phone.

“Yoona.” Seung Hyun replied, voice hoarse.

“Hm, that’s a nice name. You know wives are good for moments like these. They’re comforting. Nobody remembers his wife when you’re at parties, high as a kite.” Cairo says, Accra coming near him. “If you have a problem, an accident or… just scared, things change.” He lets the phone down near Seung Hyun’s head. “Are you thinking about your secretary right now?” Cairo asked, smirking. “Yes? No? Maybe?”

Seung Hyun bites his tongue and avoids the other’s eyes.

“But then again, who can think about lovers and adoption papers when you’re near death?” Cairo smiles.

“Spare me the speech, would you? I need to talk to my wife.” Seung Hyun grunts.

Cairo suddenly grabs his gun and shoves it under the gunshot making Seung Hyun groan, “listen to me. You say one suspicious thing and I’ll give you the kiss of death with this damn pistol and your wife will hear it, _ live _. Understand?”

Seung Hyun continues to groan and whimper and Cairo takes his gun off and answers the phone.

“Inspector, they’re turning a phone on.”

“Hack into it, front and main camera,” Seokjin ordered.

“Hello? Yoona?” Seung Hyun coughs.

“Seung Hyun! Darling, how are you?” Yoona asks.

“Fine. I’m fine.”

“They’ve covered the cameras, there is no image.”

Seokjin sighs.

“They’re letting some surgeons in.” Seung Hyun breathes.

“Listen. I’ve been thinking about you and… the things we did wrong.” 

“Don’t think about it, darling. Not now. Okay? Not now. Besides, it’s my fault. I know we’re not fine. We haven’t been for some time now.” Seung Hyun gulps.

Sucre slowly walks towards them.

“I’ve neglected you and our children. I’ve been selfish. I promise that all of that is going to change, okay? You hear me? I promise that’s going to change.” Seung Hyun sniffs, “I know that your sisters are asking you to live with them in Australia… take the opportunity so the kids can learn English, maybe to see koalas.”

Yoona chuckles softly.

“That’s the first thing we’ll do when we go out. I owe you that. I’ll do it for you because I love you so much.” Seung Hyun tightly closes his eyes.

Sucre looks at him, annoyed. Cairo smiles and leans over to Seung Hyun, anticipating his monologue.

“All these years wasted, thinking all that mattered was money and the status but… at the end of the day, you’re the only important thing. You’re the only one. Since the day I met you.” Seung Hyun smiles.

Yoona’s tears started to gather her eyes.

“I swear, I try to remember that day, and I wonder what the hell you saw in me. I love you, Yoongi.” Seung Hyun’s heart drops.

Yoona held her breath and stopped blinking, her eyes shifting nervously. 

Seokjin looks the other way as he widens his eyes. 

Cairo bites his lip as he pumps his fist up in the air, running towards the staircase. 

Accra looked at Sucre, surprised, and the older just held a blank stare.

“Yoona.” Seung Hyun says, trying to save himself. 

Cairo wheezed as he covered his mouth, Accra still looking shocked.

Yoona composes herself, “just focus on getting out of there, okay? I… love you.” She took the headset off immediately and started sobbing. 

Seokjin starts to rub her back, “it’ll be okay.”

Sucre crumples the paper in his pocket.

“You sure are the man Seung Hyun. The secretary with adoption papers, and Miss Yoona waiting for you in the four by four with the children. You’re a fucking legend.” Cairo smiled and took the phone away to hand it to Accra.

“Cairo. Stop the teasing, the doctors are here.” Citadel said.

Cairo nods and takes his mask, “excuse me, Seungri.”

He walks over to her and they slowly approach the gate.

“Do they all know what to do?” Cairo asked, referring to the hostages.

“They do, of course they do. Everyone, get ready!” Citadel orders.

Cairo nods, “Mercedes, are you ready?” He asks the chauffeur, she nods.

He looks at Lisa, “I want her out of here, Accra. Take her to the office.”

Accra takes Lisa’s hand and they go upstairs.

“Citadel.” Cairo nods.

“Alright! Everyone, put your masks on and follow me.” Citadel orders as the hostages form a line.

The gate opens, as Rodrigo and the two medical workers walk in, they are greeted by masked Dalís, all pointing guns at them.

Rodrigo looks at all the weapons.

“Leave everything on the floor. Close the gate.” Citadel commands, the gate closes and the masked Dalís move back. The three leave their briefcases filled with medical equipment.

“Put your hands on your head and legs apart.” The hostage, Mercedes, says, taking Citadel’s place in the middle.

“We’re going to frisk you.” She says and nods over to Citadel and Accra.

Rodrigo and the medical workers do as they were told, Citadel and Accra approach the medical workers and start patting them down. Leaving Rodrigo alone, adjusting his glasses while looking at the security camera.

The Professor squints and adjusts the camera. He zooms into Rodrigo’s face, he pauses.

That’s the same man who ordered him to be escorted out of the tent, the one who came in the diner to get Seokjin. 

He stood up and started punching the air excitedly, his face determined. He calls Cairo. “Listen to me, one of the nurses is an undercover cop.”

“Which one?” Cairo asks.

“The one in the glasses. You know what to do.”

“Perfect. Let’s get to it.” Cairo smirks.

“Cairo. This has to be fucking precise.” The Professor says as he taps the table firmly.

“I know.” Cairo says and hangs up, he turns around and looks at Jakarta and Resita, “ladies and gentlemen, the one with glasses is a cop.”

** _“They’ll come in, maybe during an assault, during an emergency… it could be a Red Cross guy or the pizza guy. They’ll try to infiltrate with someone. And that will be our chance to try and give them a Trojan horse. Do you know what that is?” The Professor asks as he walks around the classroom._ **

** _“It’s a condom,” Sucre whispers._ **

** _Jakarta and Accra laugh, as the others smile._ **

** _“No.” The Professor looks at him._ **

** _Sucre tries to hide his laugh, Kyoto hits his head, “shut up, Jesus.”_ **

** _“Sorry. I’m sorry.” Sucre bites his lip._ **

** _“The Greeks were at war with the Trojans. One day the Trojans found in front of their city a wooden horse. A huge wooden horse. And out of vanity, they thought it was a surrender present by the Greeks, so they opened the gates and put it inside. What they didn’t know is that the horse was hollow filled with Greek warriors… that night the Trojans lost the war.” He pauses, everyone looks at him paying attention, “and that is exactly what we’re going to do.”_ **

** _The Professor walks up to the table, “they’ll get in thinking that they’re going to win…”_ **

  
  


Cairo, along with Jakarta and Resita, wearing their masks, walked over to the medical team and stopped in front of them.

“Leave all your metallic objects on that tray.” Cairo orders.

Citadel comes to them with a tray in her hand.

“Glasses, watches… if you have any weapons, microphones… I also advise you to put them there.” Cairo says.

Rodrigo takes his glasses off carefully and the others take their watches off.

“We’re going to track any type of radiofrequency… oh, and take your shoes off, please.” Cairo pointed to their shoes.

The three men took their shoes off.

“Now lie down, please,” Cairo said.

Resita and Citadel go to the corner and she hands him a loupe and starts examining the glasses, Accra runs a metal detector through the medical team.

Resita, with careful hands, drills into the side of the glasses, placing a small microphone chip and sealing it. He paints it to the original color and sets it back on the tray. He signals Cairo.

“Stand up.” Cairo says, “put your shoes on.”

Jakarta comes back with the tray and stops in front of Rodrigo, “only take the glasses, you’re going to need them.”

“Now, take your things and come with me.” Cairo orders, they follow him through the hostages.

The Professor watches from the camera and pumps his fist in the air, smiling.

As Rodrigo and the medical workers arrive in the other room, they see a line of hostages with their guns pointing at them as they walk in between. There was a decent-sized board with blankets hanging from the side, separating Seung Hyun from the others. They will be treating a man who got shot in private. 

Rodrigo has never performed surgery in his life, he gulps as he approaches the makeshift wall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> idk bout yall but i dont want someone with no medical experience performing surgery on me...


	6. CHANGE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yoongi’s condition worsens. The Professor enjoys the spoils of his latest trick. Accra is disturbed by news he sees on television.

SATURDAY 6:31 PM

33RD HOUR OF THE ROBBERY

The medical team along with Rodrigo goes around the wall, Cairo lifts his mask and signals the hostages to lower their guns, he heads back with his mask on.

In another room, Lisa is accompanied by Accra, she sits down on the couch and smiles at him.

“What?” Accra raised an eyebrow.

Lisa giggles, “nothing. It’s just that sometimes on TV, there are people like you.”

Accra holds his gun tighter, “How so?”

“You know, robbers. But you don’t look like one, it seems like it’s not your thing.”

Accra stayed silent.

“I can tell by how you hold your rifle.” She smiles.

Accra looks down, he adjusts his grip, “you’re the ambassador’s daughter, not Rambo.” He walks towards her.

“Well, my dad always wanted a son, since I was six-years-old he took me hunting. Wild hogs, deers, antelopes. Ecologists hunted him all the time.” Lisa chuckles, “but, um… I don’t really like guns.” She looks at her hands, twiddling her thumbs. “I remember when my uncle’s rifle went off, blood was everywhere. It was like when you see an accident on the road and it gets stuck in your head.”

Accra releases the ammo and places the gun on a table, “well, I took the ammo off, don’t be scared.” He looks into her eyes.

As the cardiac monitor beeps constantly, Seung Hyun looks down on his shoulder, “what do you think, Doc? A-am I gonna live?”

“The bullet is located in the clavicle, it is not touching and vital organs… and I can’t see any bone fractures.” The other replies, “clean the blood, please.” He looks at Rodrigo.

Rodrigo gently wipes off the excess blood surrounding Seung Hyun’s shoulder, he observes the four masked Dalís carrying their rifles as they watch them.

Sucre approached the doctor slowly with his mask on, “hurry up.” He said nudging his shoulder.

_ Sucre had no time for diagnoses. _

“Anaesthesia, please.” The doctor asks and his companion hands it over to him.

_ Yoongi was losing a lot of blood, if he doesn’t take the scalpels soon, sparing his life would be useless. _

  
  


“What kind of anaesthesia will you use?” Cairo asked, cocking his head to the side.

The doctor hums, “well in cases like these, it’s better to use total sedation.”

“No. I personally think it’s better to use local anaesthesia.” Cairo smiles under his mask. 

Rodrigo and the doctor look at each other in shock. 

“That way, my friend and I can chat through the surgery, isn’t that right Seungri?”

Seung Hyun looks at him with disgust, the doctor returns the syringe and replaces it with the local one, showing it to Cairo for reassurance.

The doctor injects the anaesthesia and Seung Hyun starts to restrain himself from screaming, he fails. His voice echoes throughout the rooms, so Accra opened the door to check and see.

Lisa looks at the rifle settled down on the table, before Accra can look back he hears rustling.

Lisa has his rifle pointed at him.

Rodrigo sets an alarm clock next to a tray.

“What’s the timer for?” Sucre asked.

“To control the duration of the local anaesthesia, twenty-five minutes. If anything goes wrong with the surgery, we will give him one more dose.” Rodrigo replied calmly.

“Get the timer on the screen,” Seokjin ordered, he’s still at the tent. He watches as the timer starts counting down.

Miguel, along with Santiago, starts to crawl inside the ducts. They both were wearing the red jumpsuits, Dalí masks on the top of their heads as they have headlights on.

_ That operation was scheduled and had to last exactly twenty-five minutes as the Inspector had ordered. That countdown would allow two police officers wearing Dalí masks inside the factory. Unless it goes wrong, then that’s two dead bodies inside the ventilation ducts. _

“Put the fucking rifle down.” Accra tightens his jaw.

Lisa only looks at him.

“It’s not loaded, drop it before I get pissed off.” Accra orders.

Lisa cocks the rifle, “the bullet in the breach.”

* * *

The Professor watches the security cameras, careful eyes shifting through each section. Nothing has moved for the past five minutes.

“Miguel, do you hear me?” Seokjin asked through the earpiece, watching the screen as the big red X blinks in the factory’s blueprint.

“The duct is clear.” Miguel says, “we are moving towards the target.” He continues to crawl, the X in the monitor continues to move.

One of the Professor’s screens started to make noises, his hands adjusting the knobs of the radio to detect the message.

“Now turn around and put your hands behind your head.” Lisa commands, “do it. Now!”

Accra looks at her, he bites his tongue and grabs his pistol. He puts his gun to her head, “now?”

Lisa started to become nervous, but she didn't let go of the gun. 

Accra pushes the gun harder, “so? What now? Not so tough now, are you?” He taunts, “well? What are you gonna do? Shoot me. You know damn well that rifle’s gonna ricochet back to you, your target’s too close.” He pushes the rifle back to her, Lisa whimpers.

He grabs the rifle and wears the strap, “get down on the ground, little girl.”

Lisa gets on her knees.

“Hold on, hold on. If you drop that tray, you’re gonna injure somebody. Let me do it.” Sucre said, stopping the doctor’s companion, Sucre hands the scalpel over to the doctor.

“You nailed it earlier, Seung Hyun… changing your wife’s name.” Cairo said.

Rodrigo looks at the ceiling, thinking about Miguel.

“But then again, it’s pretty normal mixing up people’s names. Early mornings with Yoongi, late evenings with Yoona.” Cairo continued.

“I love them both. It may be complicated from your point of view but—” Seung Hyun gets cut off.

“Spare me from your monologue, Seungri. If you want to talk morals, you’re talking to the wrong guy.” Cairo smirked.

The two police officers continued to crawl in the tight space. The X’s moving as they inch closer and closer to the end.

“But hey, if you want to talk to me. The last thing I’d do is judge.” Cairo says.

Jakarta rolls her eyes underneath her mask.

“I-I am a piece of shit, a person who’s in love with a man and a woman,” Seung Hyun slurs, “a-and who doesn’t have the guts to choose one of them.”

“That’s unfair to our dear old Yoongi, no?” Cairo asked, Sucre, looking at him.

And in the middle of that infidelity declaration, Sucre got the scalpel he needed, and the love note Yoongi had written was thrown into the sea, or almost, because of Citadel, always paying close attention to any detail, spotted it. The note fell off as Sucre hides the scalpel in his pocket. 

Citadel looks down on the crumpled piece of paper, next to Sucre’s shoe.

“What did you do that for, huh?” Accra asked, pushing Lisa to the ground.

“I-I don’t know, I’m sorry.” Lisa cries as she lies down, her back to Accra.

Accra looks around the room and pulls the telephone cable off and starts tying Lisa’s hands together behind her back.

Citadel steps over the paper, making her inch closer to Sucre. She nods, signalling him that he can go, and she’ll take over. 

Sucre leaves, Citadel’s feet stay put, making sure the note doesn’t move.

The X’s continue moving forward.

“You’re eleven meters from the entrance,” Seokjin announces.

“Copy that, we are proceeding,” Miguel replies.

The Professor is still adjusting the knobs, the frequencies continue to adjust. His eyes focused on the camera, still no movement.

“Fucking spoiled brat,” Accra mutters.

Lisa whimpers, “I’m sorry.”

Accra pulls her by the hair, “no you are not. You wouldn’t have done that in the first place. Don’t tell me your fucking life story either, because I’m not the fucking friend of an outcast. Understand?”

Lisa’s eyes started to tear up.

“If you go around trying to be friends or make your kidnapper fall in love with you, you’re screwed,” Accra says and lets go of her hair, immediately regretting it, but not letting his expression show through his face.

* * *

Kyoto looks at Yoongi’s temperature, he pouts a little bit.

“You know, even though the baby’s not with me, I’m really looking forward to being a father.” Yoongi smiles softly.

Kyoto grins, “I bet. Are you ready to handle the responsibilities of being a parent?”

“Well, to be honest, I just really want to give my child a good life as long as I’m alive… or if I make it out alive, you know. Because of this.” Yoongi points to his wound.

Kyoto frowns, “hey. Look at me, you’re going to be fine, alright? Sucre will come back and he will have the scalpel, and everything would be good. You get out of here, get your baby, and next thing you know, your kid will have a family of their own.” 

Yoongi’s eyes started to become heavier and heavier as time passed, “w-what’s your name again?”

The younger looks at him, “well, they call me Kyoto.”

“Kyoto… and you and Sucre are…” Yoongi raises his eyebrows as he trails off.

“Brothers.” Kyoto nods as he finishes Yoongi’s sentence.

Yoongi hums, “a-are you allowed to tell me a story about you two?”

Kyoto looks down, “promise me you won’t tell anyone if I do.” He puts his pinky finger out.

Yoongi chuckles and intertwines both their pinkies together, “sure.” He smiles.

“Okay, well. Our family was very complicated, mother was Spanish, father was Korean. We both grew up here, so, Sucre and I don’t really know much about South Korea.” Kyoto twiddles his thumbs together.

Yoongi looks at him and nods.

“Um. Oh! I can tell you the time Sucre protected me from bullies! We were in school at the time, people were making fun of me because I looked different. I started crying because if I ever told anyone else, they will steal my toy, Chimmy. He’s this… little puppy with a y-yellow hoodie.” Kyoto uses his hands to describe his toy.

Yoongi smiles, trying to stay awake.

“I eventually told Sucre, and he defended me from them. A lot. But, the bullies didn’t stop. And, um… as a parent, you’d be worried if your kid gets beaten up at school, but no one really talks about your kid being the one who beats others. Sucre did it because of me, and you know… self-defense. He always did. He always wins.” Kyoto gives Yoongi a small smile.

“D-Do you still have Chimmy?” Yoongi asked.

“N-Not with me! I won’t bring a stuffed toy in a robbery. But… yeah, I still have him.” Kyoto blushes.

Yoongi gives him a weak smile, his eyes closing.

“Hey, no, no! Yoongi, stay with me!” Kyoto holds Yoongi’s cheeks, the vault door opens and Sucre comes in and closes it.

“What’s wrong?” Sucre asked as he took out the supplies.

“Nothing, his temperature is just too high,” Kyoto replies, Yoongi’s eyes start to open up a bit.

“Let’s start,” Kyoto says.

“You have five minutes until the doctors get done with the surgery,” Seokjin announces.

Miguel adjusts his earpiece, “copy that.”

The doctor grabs the forceps and carefully takes the bullet out.

“Now. You sew it shut.” Cairo looks at Rodrigo.

“Me?” Rodrigo asked.

“Yes, you’re a nurse too, right?” Cairo asked, his voice getting lower.

“Yes, okay,” Rodrigo says, looking at the needle and surgical thread.

“This is local anaesthesia.” Sucre shows Kyoto, “um, we can just inject this in, and then we can get the bullet out.” He gulps, Yoongi looks at Sucre.

Sucre’s hands shake as he holds the syringe.

“Okay, let me do it.” Kyoto carefully takes it off of Sucre’s hands, “let’s switch sides so you can check his pulse.” 

Sucre holds Yoongi’s hand and places fingers on his wrist.

“Hey, do you know what I’m going to do after all of this?” Sucre asked Yoongi, massaging his arm.

Kyoto injects the anaesthesia, Yoongi whimpers.

“I’ll be studying abroad.” Sucre smiles.

Kyoto scoffs, “Oh please, you haven’t studied in your whole life.” 

“Well, I won’t study medicine, but… I’ll pick up where I left off.” Sucre says, gently pushing Yoongi’s hair away from his eyes.

“Now, we wait for five minutes, then we can start to take the bullet out. Okay?” Kyoto said, looking at Yoongi.

Yoongi nods, trying to control his breathing.

“Two meters from the entrance, Miguel,” Seokjin says, watching the screen.

“We can visualize the target,” Miguel replies, they crawl a little faster.

Rodrigo takes a deep breath and adjusts himself, Cairo watching him carefully.

Rodrigo stops before he pierces the skin, the sight of blood makes him sick and the smell of copper makes him dizzy, “h-hold on. I’m not feeling very well.”

Cairo raised his eyebrows, the mask hiding his expression, “the fuck is wrong with you, shouldn’t you know by now that blood will be involved with surgeries?”

“Look. I am a nurse, but I’m not used to working surrounded by guns.” Rodrigo says, trying to meet the other’s eyes.

“Enough, I’ll do it.” The doctor says.

Resita walks towards them, “the Professor wants to talk to you.” He tells Cairo.

“Alright. Well, Resita, would you please take the nurse to the toilet so he can vomit. And if he doesn’t, push his head until he does so. Okay?” Cairo says, and points downwards, “ _ push down _ .” He says in Serbian. Resita nods.

Cairo walks away to go to the staff room. Resita pushes Rodrigo towards the bathrooms.

Citadel turns around and sees Jakarta facing another direction, she immediately takes her feet off the note and grabs it. She stands up, acting as if nothing happened.

“They’re broadcasting on a short wave and it’s encrypted, so they’re getting in but I don’t know from where.” The Professor says, looking at the radio waves.

“Okay, I’m moving to Plan B,” Cairo replies calmly.

“Alright, now get the medical team out of there, right now.” The Professor says and hangs up.

Citadel opens the note and reads it.

‘ _ Seung Hyun, be strong.  _

_ I’m fine. _

_ -Yoongi _ ’

She immediately crumples the paper and shoves it in her pocket.

A minute goes by and Rodrigo is shoved by Resita towards Seung Hyun, he looks up to see Citadel in another mask. A haunting one, Rodrigo’s eyes widened in shock.

_ Rodrigo knew in less than a second that they had lost another battle. _

Citadel points to her mask and Resita nods, signalling a mask change. 

Rodrigo sees a glimpse of the line of former masked Dalís, they have also changed their masks to the same one Citadel has.

_ Those sinister masks meant that they’re going to throw two men in at the deep end. _

Everywhere Rodrigo looked, everyone had the same mask looking at them.

_ Also that the guy who had planned the robbery was smarter and had more imagination than the police, the CNI, and the Intervention Unit. And when they’re well ahead of you, it’s time to run. _

“We have to leave now,” Rodrigo says, taking his scrubs off in a hurry. 

The doctor looks at the time, “um, miss, excuse me, we’re done here. Can we go now, please?”

Citadel looks at them, “yes, calmly. Follow me.” As the four of them were about to go around the makeshift wall, Cairo runs downstairs, “Nurse! Nurse! One moment please!”

“One minute and thirty seconds,” Seokjin says.

The earpiece gives static noises. “What’s wrong?” Seokjin asked, looking at the worker.

“They have frequency inhibitors.” 

Seokjin starts to worry, “Miguel. They have frequency inhibitors, communication may be lost.”

Miguel hears a choppy version of the message from the earpiece, “I can’t hear you, we’re losing communication.” He pauses.

“Miguel.” Seokjin’s breath picks up.

“I just want to know how did the surgery go?” Cairo asked as he walked down, he and Resita are the only ones with Dalí masks on.

“The procedure went well, but we will be back after twenty-four hours.” The doctor answered for Rodrigo.

“I appreciate that, however, we have enough qualified people for post-op.” Cairo says looking at Seung Hyun, “and, nurse… are you feeling better now?” 

“Y-yes. Thank you.” Rodrigo nods.

“Good. I’m glad to hear that. Well, I hope you have a great rest of the day. I’ll leave you to it. Citadel will lead you outside.” Cairo points to her, as she motions them to walk with her.

As they walk in between the line of masked hostages, Rodrigo looks at every one of them.

“Give our regards to the people outside!” Cairo shouted you can envision the smile from his voice.

The two doctors walk faster.

* * *

“D-Did you tell Seung Hyun that I’m fine?” Yoongi asked Sucre.

“Sorry?”

“D-Did you tell him I’m alive?” Yoongi asked, Kyoto fumbled with the scalpel.

“Oh, um… yeah, yeah, I-I gave him the note.” Sucre says.

Citadel walks through the halls, eventually she sees a small blood stain only people with eagle eyes can detect. She scoffs and wipes it off the ground, she continues walking and sees a vault.

“W-What did he say?” Yoongi coughs.

Sucre clenches his jaw, “well. He was happy,  _ very _ happy. Um… what else?”

Kyoto’s hands started to shake and he couldn’t hold the scalpel anymore.

“He, he also said that when you two get out of here, he’s going to take you to Australia.” Sucre forced a smile. 

Yoongi furrows his brows, “A-Australia?”

Kyoto whispers, “I can’t see it.”

Sucre looks at him, but continues to distract Yoongi, “he also told me that he doesn’t know what you saw in him to like him in the first place.” 

“Australia?” Yoongi asks, a tear escapes his eye.

“Australia.” Sucre nods.

“That’s where his wife’s relatives are.” Yoongi whispers, “Besides, Seung Hyun knows I hate flying… w-what else happened? Did his wife go in with the doctors?”

“No, he talked to her over the phone—” Sucre was cut off by the vault being pushed open.

Sucre immediately stands up, grabbing his rifle, ready to shoot.

Citadel positions her gun up, pointing at him.

“Miguel!” Seokjin’s eyes stay on the screen, the X’s still moving.

“Command post! Do you hear me? Do you copy?” Miguel asks, the earpiece not working as well anymore, they continue crawling.

“Inspector, the surgeons are coming out.” A worker announced.

“Slowly, just walk slowly.” Rodrigo whispers, the two doctors next to him.

As they walk down Rodrigo tries to calm himself down, they pass one of the police cars.

“Now, run! Go! Let’s go!” Rodrigo says, running away from the factory. 

The two doctors panicked as they ran towards the tent.

“Rodrigo is running in, something’s wrong.” Seokjin says, his eyebrows close together.

“Stop it! Stop the operation!” Rodrigo shouts as he runs in, “they changed their masks, they’re not wearing the Dalí ones. Miguel and Santiago are going straight to a slaughterhouse.” 

“Fuck.” Seokjin muttered, “Miguel! Listen up! Don’t go in, they changed masks! Go back!”

Miguel stops in front of the vent, “target reached. We will open the flap and we will go in.” He starts unscrewing the bolts.

“What are you doing?” Citadel asks, she slowly comes in.

“A bullet. Wound. A bullet wound.” Kyoto says, his hands are up.

Citadel walks towards Yoongi and sees the amount of blood.

“Jesus Christ, Kyoto! This is too much! Move! I’ll do it.” She drops her rifle and immediately kneels down to do the job.

_ The unexpected happened. Citadel did her best and used her meticulousness for the greater good. Instead of telling on them, she helped Kyoto save Yoongi’s life.  _

“I-I’ll go get some fresh air.” Kyoto says, he walks out and closes the vault.

_ She really did not come to kill anybody, and as I told you before, she wasn’t going to let anything screw the Professor’s plan up.  _

Miguel continued to unscrew the bolts and was able to open the vent.

“...masks…” Miguel hears over the earpiece, “there are some interferences. Command post, do you copy me? I can’t hear you.” Miguel says.

“They are not wearing Dalí masks anymore! Don’t go in!” Seokjin says harshly.

The Professor softly smiles as he hears the panic in the other’s voice, the radio picking up their conversation.

Miguel gets his gun ready and his mask on.

“Miguel! Do not go in!” Seokjin watches the screen, the two X’s not moving. “It’s an order! They have changed their masks. They’re not wearing the Dalí face masks. Attention! Do you hear me?!” 

The Professor chuckles.

Miguel hears Seokjin, he bites his lip angrily. “We’re cancelling the operation.”

“Fuck.” Rodrigo sighs as he watches the two X’s going back. 

Seokjin’s hands cover his face.

The Professor blinks, he grabs the telephone, “Cairo, everyone can relax now. Plan B worked as planned, they’re withdrawing.”

_ Hidden behind a metallic voice with their cameras and their strategy negotiating a robbery, the Professor was in his element. At the rest of things in life he was completely useless. Both so different, like Clark Kent and Superman. Perhaps he spent his whole childhood lying on a bed at San Juan de Dios hospital of San Sebastián talking just with senior nurses and reading books. He was neither an ordinary nor a very sociable fellow, and at least not a seducing type. _

** _Jakarta approaches the Professor as he writes on the chalkboard. She watches him write down the possible outcomes and relationships in the police force._ **

** _“Hi, can I sit down?” Jakarta asks, pulling a chair towards her. _ **

** _The Professor turns around and adjusts his sweater, “sure.”_ **

_ And that’s why I liked to make him nervous. _

** _“So, when you’re not planning a heist, what do you do?” Jakarta asks, taking a drink from her glass of water._ **

** _The Professor looks up from his book, “y-you mean in my spare time or something like that?” _ **

** _Jakarta nods, “well yeah, do you like to dance—”_ **

** _The Professor adjusts his glasses, “no, no, not at all. I don’t have any rhythm.” He sits on the chair in front of her._ **

** _Jakarta hums, “do you have a girlfriend?” _ **

** _The Professor looks at her._ **

** _“Boyfriend?” Jakarta raises her eyebrows._ **

** _He looks at his hands._ **

** _“Married?” Jakarta leans towards him._ **

** _“We agreed on no personal information.” The Professor reminds her._ **

** _“Are you a virgin?” She smiles._ **

** _“No! I-I’ve been in relationships. Several.” The Professor suddenly had the urge to defend himself._ **

** _Jakarta raises her eyebrows as she leans back, she doesn’t believe him._ **

** _“Not a whole lot. But, I’ve had a few. L-Like, I mean… sporadic relationships.” He stammers._ **

** _Jakarta sets her drink down._ **

** _“Sporadic ones, I don’t mean with prostitutes by the way, don’t misunderstand me.” _ **

** _Jakarta purses her lips, “well, who knows maybe you’re gay?”_ **

** _“No. I’m not.” He looks at her, “I’m not in the closet, none of that.” _ **

** _Jakarta nods, “okay. You’re not saying that because of the personal info shit, right?” _ **

** _The Professor looks at her, his face blank._ **

** _“You know, people find a lot of things sexy… the way someone moves their hips when dancing, the way someone’s muscles look under their shirt, blondes, brunettes,” Jakarta pauses._ **

** _The Professor nods._ **

** _“An accent, but do you know what I find sexy?” She leans in._ **

** _The Professor leans back._ **

** _“Intelligence.” Jakarta looks at him._ **

** _The Professor crosses his arms awkwardly._ **

** _“Men who speak to you and you can’t help but admire them, especially when I don’t know what the fuck they’re talking about.” Jakarta smirks._ **

** _The Professor adjusts his glasses, “w-well, it’s a peculiarity, it’s written in the dictionary, it’s called sapiophile.” _ **

** _“You know almost everything, don’t you?” Jakarta watches him stand up, she looks at his khaki pants, folded by the ankles, “Professor, how did you come up with the idea of this heist?” _ **

** _The Professor scratches his palm, “it wasn’t me who came up with the idea.” _ **

** _Jakarta looks at him, “who did?”_ **

** _“Not me.” The Professor walks out of the room._ **

The Professor stands up and plays jazz music from his record player.

“And who the fuck were those masks of?” Miguel asked, throwing his Dalí mask on the table.

“I don’t know. Their mouth was open kind of, distressed. It’s similar to  _ The Scream _ from Munch, the expressionist painter.” Rodrigo replied.

Seokjin looks at the Dalí mask, he sighs, “Dalí, Munch, who else?”

The Professor smiled, “you don’t know how happy it makes me that you asked that question, Inspector.” He says as he listens to the conversation.

“If you had to change it, which painter would you choose?” Seokjin asked the whole room.

“Sorry, I don’t know. There’s so much to choose from. Maybe Picasso?” The Professor replied.

“Goya.” A worker says.

The Professor raises his eyebrows, “Goya.”

“Velázquez.” Hugo mutters.

“Velázquez? No.” The Professor shakes his head in disappointment.

“Da Vinci. He’s an icon, no?” Miguel asked as he drank from his water bottle.

The Professor smiles, “I like him.”

“Van Gogh, what about him?” Santiago asked.

The Professor blinks, “Cairo’s favorite.”

“Andy Warhol?” Rodrigo asked, “the soup guy.”

Seokjin chuckles, “Andy Warhol, the soup guy, huh? Rodrigo you're filled with surprises.”

“Full of surprises with a microphone in your glasses.” The Professor mutters as he crosses his arms.

“They could change their masks all the time and we wouldn’t know which one.” Seokjin sighs.

The Professor stands up and hums, “that’s not the crux of the matter, Inspector, and you know it.” 

“But that’s not important, otherwise, how the fuck did they know we were inside?” Seokjin asked as he stood up and walked around the room.

The Professor nods.

“How long did they spend studying all our next steps each second?” Seokjin asked.

The Professor walks around, “if you want me to be honest, half of my life.” He smiled.

“How long did they expect to be in there?” Seokjin asked.

“Not that long, only nine more days. Maybe ten, eleven the longest.” The Professor adjusts his glasses.

“It’s like playing a game of chess, and they’re winning.” Seokjin complained.

“But I have a Trojan horse, Inspector, You have a little chance to beat me.”

“It’s time to think carefully, go back to the beginning.”

The Professor’s jazz music stops.

“We know that those who were inside had been there before. We have footage of Jongin and Jennie entering the museum, but did they enter alone?” Seokjin asked his team.

The Professor stops walking, he looks at the radio.

“Was it the first time or the last one? Did they talk to the workers? We need a sign, or if anything a fucking string we can pull. I want you to go through the CCTV footage again, check in frame by frame, second by second. The others will rest and get back to it tomorrow.” The workers started to stand up, “some of you haven’t slept for over thirty hours. Go home.”

“Affray in Marcelo Usera, any unit near?” The pager said.

Seokjin sighs, “and please, leave channel eight free for the hostages crisis! No one uses channel eight please, thank you.”

The Professor takes note of this and writes it down on his notebook.

“Hey, um, Jin… do you want to have dinner before you go home first?” Rodrigo follows Seokjin through the exit.

Seokjin huffs, “I’m sorry Rodrigo, but it’s been a long day and I feel like collapsing any second now. Maybe another time?”

_ Have you ever thought that if you could go back in time you probably wouldn’t make the same decisions? And that we all make our own snowballs with our bad decisions. Snowballs that get bigger and bigger, like the rock in Indiana Jones, and slide down after you to squash you. _

Cairo walks into his own office, the blinds down for his privacy. He looks down, his hand expressing tremors once again, he groans quietly. His left hand grabs the other, trying to stop it.

Citadel changes the numbers in her board, the paper money that they’ve made is rising in amount.

Accra watches her write through the window, he smiles. He goes through each room with a bag filled with food, he starts giving the food to each hostage who was working.

_ All decisions we made in the past they take us inexorably to our future. Accra was going to realize that as soon as he switched on the only television set there was left in the factory, in case at any point we lost communication with the Professor. _

“Turn it on kid! I want to see what the public thinks about us! This is greater than the Glasgow Train Robbery!” Citadel grins as she watches Accra connecting cables to the TV. 

“Unknown number of robbers gains access to the—”

“The largest heist the world has ever seen has taken place in Madrid, Spain.”

The reporters say as Accra flipped through different news channels. 

Resita and Arad watch from the corner, smiling. 

Jakarta and Citadel sit directly in front of the TV, eyes wide and excited. 

“Hey! Americans have nothing on us! This is made in Spain with M-16s, baby!” Citadel grins.

Accra suddenly gasps, “wait, my parents!” He drops the remote.

He reads the headline: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH ONE OF THE ROBBER’S PARENTS

Accra watches as he sees his mother wiping her tears.

“He wasn’t like most kids, he’s very shy.” His father spoke, his mother nods.

“Our son was always locked in his room, and at first we thought ‘oh, he’s just playing computer games’ but we would have never thought he’d become a criminal.” His father sighs.

Jakarta looks at Accra, his eyes not leaving the screen.

“Then you see him on TV with a rifle, with about sixty people all locked up, he’s like a terrorist.” His father snarled.

“Jaehyo, please.” His mother scolded him.

“He’s not our son anymore, to me he’s just another criminal.”

“Please don’t say that.” She whispers.

“He’s dead to me.” His father says, eyes looking straight to the camera.

Accra starts to tear up, Jakarta stands and pulls the TV plug. “The Professor said no news from outside.”

_ But he also said he wanted a robbery with no violence, with no victims. _

Jakarta puts a hand on Accra’s shoulder to comfort him, however, he pushes her hand away and walks out of the room. 

Jakarta was about to follow him but Citadel held her back.

* * *

Seokjin comes out of the bathroom from a shower, he dries his hair and grabs a pair of sweatpants and collapses on the bed. He sighs deeply, trying to relax. As he closed his eyes his phone started to buzz.

“Fucking damnit.” Seokjin grabs a pillow and uses it to cover his ears. The phone continues to buzz and he whines, he stands up to grab his phone on the dresser, “hello?”

“Hey Jin, were you sleeping?” Rodrigo asked.

Seokjin walks towards the bed, “um, no. Is something wrong?” 

Rodrigo takes a sip of beer, “no. Don’t worry, um. Look, I’ve been thinking, and I was wondering if you have a minute to spare?”

The Professor listens to the conversation, lying on the sofa inside the warehouse, he’s wearing his pajamas. “Give him a rest, man, he needs to sleep.” He says rubbing his hands together.

“Yeah, sure.” Seokjin says, sitting down.

“What was that thing with Andy Warhol?” Rodrigo asked.

“What about him?” Seokjin asked, confused.

“You know, about being full of surprises, am I not supposed to like museums or painters?”

Seokjin clears his throat, “it just took me by surprise, I didn’t know you were into art. Just like the way I didn’t know you were into Atleti…”

“It suits me though, right?” Rodrigo asked, nervously.

“I guess, yeah.” The Professor says.

“Well, yeah. It suits you, but, Rodrigo, I’m really tired. Can we speak tomorrow?” Seokjin asked, rubbing his forehead.

“The guy I saw you with in the diner. You two were holding hands… would you sleep with him?” Rodrigo asked, his tone changed.

The Professor widens his eyes as he sits up.

“Tell me, I want to know.” Rodrigo demanded.

“Rodrigo, what the hell do you mean?” Seokjin asked.

“Would you sleep with him? Yes or no?” Rodrigo’s hand starts shaking, “answer me.”

The Professor holds his breath.

“Well, yeah. I would. Why not?” Seokjin scoffs.

The Professor started to cough.

“I’m a single thirty-year-old man, and honestly I could use a good fuck.” Seokjin says, his mind not keeping up with his mouth.

The Professor starts to blush, his breath quickens.

“He seems like an interesting guy, someone new. So yeah, why not? What about it?” Seokjin asked.

“Okay, I understand. You would give anyone a chance, I understand.” Rodrigo snarls.

Seokjin rolled his eyes, “Rodrigo, what happened between us in Cercedilla was a fling.”

The Professor’s eyes widened.

“Eight years have passed and look, I made a clean cut because we are co-workers.” Seokjin continues.

“And friends, Jin.”

“That too, you are  _ married,  _ Rodrigo.”

“Because you said it wouldn’t work between co-workers.  _ Then _ you got married, and on top of that with a colleague. And because you’ve never seen me as a winner… you see me as a loser who is not… an icon, like Andy fucking Warhol, the guy was famous for the soup thing! But think about it, Jin. I promise you it would take me less than ten minutes to leave my wife, and you know it.” Rodrigo’s voice wavers.

Seokjin looks at the floor, eyes filled with worry.

“I-I’m sorry, Jin. I don’t even know what I’m saying anymore.” Rodrigo closes his eyes and puts his head down.

The Professor tightens his jaw.

“Listen, Rodrigo. Let’s just go to bed and talk about it tomorrow, okay?” Seokjin asked.

“Good night, Jin.” 

“Night.” Seokjin hangs up the phone, sighing.

The Professor lies back down onto the sofa, adjusting his pillow.

Seokjin hears a knock on the door, he looks and sees his mother’s hand on the knob.

“Who were you talking to this late at night?” She asks.

“Mom, were you spying on me?” Seokjin pouts.

“Well, I can’t help but hear it from my room. We have to do something about that, you can’t invite anyone over and for Luca to hear anything suspicious.” 

Seokjin’s eyes widened, “Mom! It’s late, go back to bed.”

She lets herself in the room, “oh yeah, it’s late. So late, I can’t go back to bed. Now, tell me what’s wrong.” She sits at the edge of his bed, she grabs his towel and folds it, “Is it two suitors?”

“You don’t have to do that… and no, it was Rodrigo, my co-worker.” Seokjin sighs.

She sets the folded towel down on the dresser and hums, “I thought you were making him feel jealous, with the… the man from the bar, the mystery man.”

Seokjin chuckles, “No! I’m not making anyone jealous.” His eyes wide, smiling at his mother.

She huffs, “and why not? Now that you’re not married, you can get back in the game! It’s not too late, you have a charming personality, a handsome face, you don’t lack anything…” 

Seokjin leans back, “get back in the game?”

She nods, “get back in the game. Listen, Seokjin. Love makes you see things from a different perspective,” she holds his hand, “and lately, you’ve been seeing the dark side of things. Maybe you haven’t gotten over some stuff.”

“Like what, mom? Do you also think I pressed false charges? That I’m bitter because my daughter likes being with her mother more than me?” Seokjin asked, defeated.

“Luca likes her mom more?” She asks.

Seokjin looks at her, “what do you mean, mom? Are you okay?”

She blinks, “yeah. Um, how are you getting on with the heist?”

Seokjin makes a mental note to schedule a doctor’s appointment for his mother, “it’s not going well. Just sitting there all day.”

“What are you doing sitting? You only catch the bad guys if you chase them.” She smiles, she pulls him into a hug, “I’ll go to bed now, you should too.” She stands up and leaves the room.

Cairo opens the blinds in his office, his room is in front of Citadel’s, she waves as she writes down new numbers on her board, Cairo chuckles and closes the blinds. His right hand started to shake once more, he sighs as he makes a fist, he looks at his table, the small medical kit. He opens it and grabs the syringe, but hears footsteps and immediately hides it. 

Jakarta opens the door letting herself in. 

“Nice office you have here.” She smiles and sits in front of his desk.

“I like offices, I’ve always wanted one with a mahogany desk.” Cairo replies, Jakarta brings her pistol out. She has a smug look on her face, “but offices and crime don’t work together, don’t you think?”

“It’s getting too hot in here, no?” Jakarta unzips her jumpsuit a little bit, enough to show Cairo her bulletproof vest.

Cairo smiles, “you wear your bulletproof vest to come to see me?” 

“I want you… to call the Professor, tell him what you did. That you ordered the execution of the hostage.” She says, leaning towards the table, “because you know what? The Professor is my guardian angel, and if you don’t tell him, I’ll do it.”

Cairo looks at her, his face blank, “then you’ll be the snitch. I’m a gentleman though so I won’t let that happen.”

Jakarta stands up and drags her pistol on the table, she grabs the phone and gives it to Cairo, she presses the button with her gun.

The Professor looks at his watch, wondering why the phone was ringing, he stands up and answers the phone. “Yes?”

“I violated the first rule of the plan. I’ve killed a hostage… well not really, Sucre did, but that’s not important. He did it strictly following my orders. I preferred to tell you myself.” Cairo smiled and looked at Jakarta, she walked to the door and left, slamming it.

The Professor started to get angry, “Cairo, that was the only red line I told  _ everyone _ not to cross.”

“I understand.” Cairo says as he opens the medical kit, he grabs the syringe.

“You screwed everything up.” The Professor says, shaking.

“That man had the hidden phone, he might have wanted to call his cousin.” Cairo said calmly, grabbing a bottle, the syringe sucks in the medicine. “He might’ve wanted to tell them that he has been fucking the CEO for money, but I think he just wanted to call the police.” He injects it to his hand, he winces silently, “no more phones in the future, you can make sure of that.”

“Who was he?” The Professor tightens his jaw.

“Min Yoongi.” 

The Professor's grip tightened on the phone as he started to slam it on the table.

Cairo hears the echo of the impact, “are you going to punish me? Because you should. I know you’re an idealist, that you think they will give us the banknotes when we say please, that you want to be a decent guy, while you give us guns and explosives to blow this building up, but no more games. You’ll have to punish me. Because if you don’t have the guts to do so, we won’t succeed. I’ve told you on and on over the past few years, it’s not me who’s the problem,  _ it’s you _ .”

The Professor closes his eyes, still shaking from anger.

“You have to punish me because that way I’ll know you are a real captain, the head of the operation, no doubt. That you are dependable.” Cairo’s voice pierces the Professor’s ears. “I know you don’t want to talk about this now, but for the time being, nobody outside knows about this demise, so the plan is still on.”

The Professor tries to calm himself, “they’ll ask for proofs of life in less than forty-eight hours.” He hangs up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> big oOF


	7. IBIZA 1992

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A break in the investigation and a mistake by one of the thieves puts the Professor at a serious risk of being discovered.

During Seokjin’s sleep, his phone started to ring causing him to jolt up from his bed. He pats the nightstand to grab his phone, eyes still closed. “Yes?”

“Inspector, it’s Miguel. We’ve found something from the CCTV footage. It’s important, I advise you to come here.”

“I’m on my way,” Seokjin replies.

SUNDAY 8:35 AM

Rodrigo sighs, he holds two cups of coffee in his hands. He awkwardly looks at Seokjin who’s watching the CCTV footage. He looks at the drinks in his hands, is it too hot? Should he wait a bit before giving it to Seokjin? If he stands there long enough, the coffee wouldn’t be so good. Rodrigo takes a deep breath and walks over to him.

“Jin, here’s your coffee…” Rodrigo said, voice weak.

Seokjin turns around and receives it, “thank you,” he gave him a small smile, “we’ve reviewed the hard disk of the surveillance cameras—”

“Hold on, hold on…” Rodrigo puts a hand out, “I-I’d like to apologize for last night, it was out of hand and I shouldn’t have disrespectfully asked you. I had a few beers and I haven’t slept for forty-eight hours and I—”

“Rodrigo, hey. Don’t worry about it, okay?” Seokjin gently places a hand on the other’s shoulder.

48TH HOUR OF THE ROBBERY

Seokjin coughs awkwardly, “now, look. Miguel saw the surveillance footage of the day Jongin and Jennie visited the museum.” 

This recording echoed in the warehouse, the Professor immediately looked at the radio and held his breath.

“Let's look closely at the items they put on the tray at the entrance.” Miguel orders. They watch as Jakarta put down her bag, keys, and jewelry. She was wearing a black mini dress and a blonde wig. She walks through the metal detectors, and as she is collecting her stuff, Miguel squints.

“Pause right there, please. Zoom in.” Miguel says as the worker zooms in on the footage, it was paused.

“The car keys,” Miguel mutters.

“It looks pretty old, doesn’t it? An old model perhaps?” Seokjin asked.

The Professor quickly walks towards the radio, sitting down on his chair.

“Maybe between 1989 and 1996,” Rodrigo says.

The Professor tries to calm himself down and massages his forehead.

“Well, we have the date they came in and the car model that they drove… everyone, listen up. I want everyone to scan the whole area. Parking lots, shops, banks, car park tickets from regulated parking areas, everything. We have to find that car at any cost.”

The Professor stands up, and he walks through the wired fence in the warehouse, a picture of a destroyed car taped on to it.

The workers were able to detect the key, “the car’s an Ibiza from 1992.” Rodrigo says.

“That’s great. Those keys and that car will take us where it all began.” Seokjin smiles.

  
  


** _The Professor takes out the car keys, “here, Citadel and Accra, you two go to the museum today.” _ **

** _Citadel wheezed, “really? Me? Go to the city today?! Really?!” She grinned._ **

** _Jakarta looks at them, envy evident in her eyes._ **

** _“But why can’t you send me with a real man? Like Resita. I want to go with Resita.” Citadel looks at him._ **

** _Resita was reading a children’s book that's written in Spanish, he doesn’t look at her._ **

** _Accra smiles, “well, Resita’s type has more chest hair than you.” _ **

** _Citadel looks at Resita, her eyes wide, eyebrows high._ **

** _Resita looks at her and gives a small nod._ **

** _“I thought it was us two?” Accra whispered to Jakarta._ **

** _“Check the CCTV cameras against the sketch from my previous visit. We need to confirm the location, the angles, everything…” The Professor said._ **

** _Jakarta looks at him, her face blank._ **

** _“Well, go on. Change your clothes.” The Professor said._ **

** _“Holy shit. Resita are you gay?” Citadel asked, her voice quiet._ **

** _Resita shrugged, a small smile on his face, “war, prison…”_ **

** _“I see, I see… so women…” She trailed off._ **

** _Resita shakes his head, his face showing disapproval. _ **

** _“Got it. No women.” Citadel nods respectfully._ **

** _Jakarta stands up and approaches the Professor, Accra went out of the room to change. “Wasn’t it me who was going with Accra?”_ **

** _“I changed my mind.” The Professor says, his back turned away from her._ **

** _“Why? What’s wrong? What happened?” Jakarta interrogated._ **

** _“Nothing, I just changed my mind, period.” The Professor adjusts his glasses._ **

** _Jakarta grabs his arm and turns him around, “period? I said, what happened?” She demanded. “Did I do anything? Do you not trust me? Is that it?”_ **

** _“It’s your mom. Yesterday she had a heart attack, I didn’t want you to be tempted to go to her to say goodbye.” The Professor said._ **

** _“I can stay here with her, you can take Kyoto to go to the museum,” Citadel said._ **

** _“I don’t need to say goodbye… I already did it. My mother’s dead the moment she wanted to turn me to the police.” Jakarta turns around and grabs the keys._ **

* * *

The phone rings in the staff room, Jakarta immediately grabbed it, “Professor, what do I do with Cairo? I’ll handle it, whether to throw him to the police, shoot him, you say it, I’ll do it.”

The Professor closes his eyes, the picture of the car still in hand, “pass the phone to Resita.”

Jakarta looked at the corner to see Resita trying to play the harmonica, “here.” She said.

He stops playing, “it’s not the police, yes?” 

Jakarta gives a small smile, “no, it’s the Professor.”

Resita walks over to the phone, “hello?”

“Resita, the photograph you gave me of the cube of scrap is the Ibiza, right? Because now that I’m looking at it, it seems as if it is not the same colour.” The Professor said, shaking.

“Me leave the car in the wreck yard.” Resita said slowly.

“Resita, is it the car?”

“No, it is other car, but workers said it looks like that.” Resita said carefully.

“I gave you a thousand euros to pay the workers and they would turn the car into scrap before your eyes. What did you do with the money?! Spend it?! While we do a billion euros worth heist?!” 

“Money from heist will be for my family. Thousand euros is for me. To you, thousand euro is not important.”

“Important? Resita, that car is a loose end, and from that, they will keep pulling and pulling until they find you.” The Professor said.

“I can’t do anything, we inside here. You are out there.” Resita replies.

“Fine… at least tell me the car is in the junkyard and you wiped the fingerprints off.”

“Yes… yes.” Resita said, confused.

“Resita, what are fingerprints?”

“Fingerprints. Yes, Professor, yes.” Resita said.

“Resita, do you know what fingerprints mean?!” The Professor asked, frustrated.

Resita looks at Jakarta, she points to the pads of her fingers.

“Did you clean the steering wheel with ammonia? The gear shaft, windows, dashboard, the whole fucking car?!” The Professor asked, running out of breath.

“N-no. That I didn’t do.” Resita gulped.

The Professor immediately hung up the phone and went to his closet. He grabs a suit jacket and gloves, he runs towards a case, a handful of fake ID’s with his face on it, he scans through every one of them and grabs the one he’s looking for.

“Pass me to the Professor,” Seokjin said, walking towards the desk.

Hugo smirks, “sleeping does you a lot of good. You’re starting fast this morning.”

“Thieves are caught by chasing them, and we’re just waiting,” Seokjin said, remembering what his mother told him.

The Professor goes through several bottles, looking for alcohol and ammonia. He grabs several bags of cotton pads, shoving them in a bag.

Seokjin sits down and loosens his tie, “we are going to loosen their screws today.”

The Professor grabbed his motorcycle helmet and was about to exit the warehouse, but the phone rang. He looks at it and tries to calm his breathing, he tries to recall Cairo’s breathing exercises. He sits down and grabs the phone.

“Professor, good morning. How is Mister Seung Hyun after his surgery?” Seokjin asked.

“Good. He’s resting, no high temperature. I thought you’d forgotten me, Inspector.”

“Actually, it’s the opposite. I can’t stop thinking about you.” Seokjin smiles, Rodrigo looks at him.

“I see, that sounds like a fantasy. We should keep exploring that path if you don’t mind.” The Professor raised his eyebrows.

“If you’re going to ask me what I had for breakfast, if I had an orgasm, or if I like foreplay, I’ll tell you it isn’t about that. But yes, it is a fantasy, a fantasy with handcuffs in it. I’ll put you in handcuffs and off to the police van you go.” Seokjin grins.

“Well, it’s a fantasy after all.” The Professor replied, anxious.

“Surely, if you want, you can tell me your fantasy during a conjugal visit. Now listen, I have a lot of things to tell you. Firstly, the ship you want, Malaika, is at the port waiting for the trial, it still belongs to the shipowner.”

“That’s no excuse, Inspector. The police can get authorization from the judge to use that ship in the pursuit of an act of crime as long as the sentence hasn’t been passed.” 

Seokjin looked at Rodrigo, both of them shocked and confused, workers started to whisper, “how did he know that?”

“So you can ask permission to use it, especially in this matter of such relevance. Don’t tell me you haven’t done it.” The Professor says.

“I can see you also know about laws,” Seokjin says calmly.

“Barely… I just enjoy reading judicial sentences. You’d be surprised by how good it is.”

“Alright, I’ll do that now that I have time, I will be released from the case,” Seokjin said, Rodrigo looked at him and Seokjin raised his hand, signalling him to wait. “We’re at a dead end. Too many hours have passed, as you know, my superiors can’t wait any longer. If you really want to negotiate with me, release eight hostages.” Seokjin said, his tone changing.

The Professor’s jaw tightens, he looks at the clock.

“Eight hostages and they have to be minors,” Seokjin demands, 

“And why would I do that?” The Professor’s voice was a little shaky.

A worker taps Seokjin’s shoulder and writes  _ he’s nervous _ on a piece of paper. 

Seokjin nods, “because it’s your turn to show me a gesture of goodwill. If you want to have some credit, free those hostages. If not, they will assign another inspector to the case, and I can guarantee you, Professor, they won’t be as nice as I am. I’ll give you an hour to think it over, not a minute longer.” Seokjin says and hangs up.

The Professor grabs his watch and sets a timer, he grabs his motorcycle helmet and leaves the warehouse.

“He doesn’t want the Malaika,” Seokjin says and stands up, he adjusts his tie.

“And why do you say so?” Hugo asked.

“Why ask for a ship that would take him five days to get if he can have any other?” Seokjin asked.

“Oh, I don’t know, to see who has the longest dick? I don’t care, Inspector, get them that damn ship and get them out of here.” Hugo said, nostrils flaring.

“He probably has an idea to exit from somewhere else.” Seokjin turns around and mutters. “Rodrigo!” He looks at the other.

“Yes?” 

“Tell the Underground Unit to canvass the sewerage system within five hundred metres. Old tunnels, drains, any holes.” Seokjin orders.

“Got it.” Rodrigo nods.

* * *

The Professor parks his motorcycle near the junkyard, panting. He looks through the fence, seeing hundreds of unused cars. He calms himself down and starts to climb the wired fence. He winces as he lands, putting too much weight on his left leg, he has no time to waste. He hides behind car after car looking for the Ibiza. 

“Hey! You are trespassing!” A man shouted with a thick Russian accent, holding a baton.

The Professor looks back at him and starts to run, ignoring the pain. He finds an abandoned car and quickly dives underneath the backseat. He sees the man’s shadow pass by from the broken window. He looks at his watch, twenty-seven minutes until Seokjin calls back.

The Professor hears gears turning, he peeks outside and suddenly the car is picked up by a crane with a claw. Glasses from the windows burst, the roof crumbled from the pressure.

“N-No! NO! PUT ME DOWN!” He screams, the car swaying side to side as the man plays with the crane, as dust and dirt flying everywhere in the car, he starts to cough.

The Professor’s phone starts to ring, it was Seokjin.

“No.” He whispers and drops the phone, the impact hitting the answer button.

“Salva?” Seokjin asks.

“Fuck.” The Professor whispers.

“S-Salva?”

“Y-Yes? Yes?” He asks, holding on to the seats, trying not to fall.

Seokjin smiles, “hey! It’s Seokjin, I’m here at the diner having a drink and um,” he licks his lips, “I can’t see you around… And it feels weird because, you know, we tend to see each other all the time.” He looks down.

The Professor loosens his hold and slips a little bit. 

“And also, I kind of wanted to ask you if you would like to get coffee or maybe lunch sometime?” Seokjin makes a face as he cringes.

“Oh! I’d love to, but the thing is I’m not in Madrid right now I—” He screams, the car is being dragged up and down in the air.

“Salva? Are you okay?” Seokjin’s eyebrows raise.

“Um yeah! I’m okay, I just wasn’t focused on driving and a lorry almost crashed into me!” The Professor lies, the car door opens, his right leg hangs out.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I just wanted to call because I kind of told my mother about you and… I think we should get to know each other more? Y-you don’t have to meet her, but I’m just saying.” Seokjin pinches his nose bridge.

“T-That’s fine! Great! Um, how about lunch?” The Professor asked, trying to keep his voice stable.

“Oh, wait… really? Okay! Of course!” Seokjin grins.

“Alright! Um, I have to go now!” 

“Oh, yeah. Sorry, see you later?” Seokjin gives a worried smile.

“Yeah! See you later!” The Professor hangs up.

Seokjin puts his hands on his face, trying to hide his smile.

“Let me down! Please!!!”

  
  


The hostages who requested medicine on the first day were being watched by Cairo. He grabs his lighter and a cigarette from his pocket.

“Please don’t do that here.” A woman spoke.

Cairo looks at her, “Ariadna, right?”

She nods.

He puts the cigarette and lighter back, “alright, my bad.” He sits down in front of them, “you know all of you women are very lucky to be separated from the others. You don’t have to see the shootings, blood, surgery… I should be the one watching you guys more often, but I’m busy handling things out there.”

Ariadna looks at him, carefully watching his movements.

“You know, yesterday, I phoned a friend,” he smiles, “I told him how difficult it is to maintain order and harmony in here. I had to kill someone, I just had to.”

The hostages look at him, horrified. Ariadna’s expression doesn’t change.

“If you don’t put a dead body on the table, you’re not respected out there. And you know what? I could feel my friend’s emotions even if I wasn’t there beside him. His distress, his breathing, his panting… By the way, my friend is not with us, he doesn’t even know Min Yoongi.”

A hostage whimpers, “Y-Yoongi?”

Cairo nods, “and you know, for a moment there… I thought it would be great to feel what my friend felt. The emotion, the grief, the remorse, but no… I felt nothing, pretty dreadful isn’t it?” He looks at Ariadna.

Her expression is still blank, however, her eyes are filled with tears threatening to fall.

“Silvia? Are you having an anxiety attack?” Cairo asked calmly.

Silvia, who was sitting next to Ariadna, shakes her head. 

“She’s just nervous,” Ariadna answered for her.

Cairo stands up and walks towards them, “Silvia, give me your hand.”

The student looks up at him, “where are you taking me?” She whimpers.

“Give me your hand.” Cairo extends his out.

She hesitantly takes his hand, Cairo leads her to the room next door, he looks at Ariadna one more time and closes the door.

  
  


The Professor stumbles out of the car, dizzy, “spasiba.” He tells the man but jolts at the sound of the dog’s bark. The dog was big, pulling on its collar, but the man had a firm grip on it.

“You were trespassing.” The man said in Russian.

“N-No, I came to the car because I left something important!” The Professor lies, replying in Russian.

“Still trespassing, no?” 

“Wait! I can give you money, lots of money! I can give you my wallet.” The Professor pants.

“I’ll count to five and I’ll release the dog, and you have to be out of here.” The man says in Spanish.

The Professor walks backwards and starts to run.

* * *

“What are you doing?” Jakarta asks Accra with plastic explosives around him.

“I’m mounting the cells to put the explosives in the entryways,” Accra replies, focused on his task.

“Cairo asked you to do that?” She asked snarkily.

Accra gives her a look, “it was the Professor, it’s just a deterrent so the police can see it from the tent.”

“What about that?” She points at the bottle of alcohol next to him.

“That bastard left some Sherry in here. I’m just finishing it off.” Accra smiles.

Jakarta smirks, putting her gun down.

“You know, it’s times like this when I try to remember how I even got involved in this.” Accra says, “I was asked to hack a security system, it turns out it was a mansion in Geneva, the criminals took everything, even the fucking carpets. I wasn’t even there physically but… holy shit hacking security systems are far more fun than being the IT in an office.” He smiles.

Jakarta holds his hand.

“I didn’t even think about it, it was a game for me. At the end of the day, I’ll get out of here with a shit ton of money, but now I don’t have parents.” Accra sighs.

“Well, I don’t have a mother.” Jakarta shrugs.

“It’s a bit different don’t you think? My parents are alive and knew what they were doing… I could’ve been good, you know? I could earn my own money slowly, meet a normal girl, hang out with normal friends… I’m not like you guys.” Accra smiles.

Jakarta’s eyes tear up, “I-I don’t know what to say.”

“I think I need your door.” Accra nods.

“My door?” Jakarta asked, confused.

“The door you told me about when we went to the museum, the day we heard your mother died.”

  
  


** _“Hm, cameras twelve and thirteen changed.” Accra whispers, he holds Jakarta’s hand. “It has a wider range.”_ **

** _She turns him around for a kiss, “and that one?”_ **

** _Accra looks at the camera behind her, “camera fourteen is the same… we can go back now.”_ **

** _Jakarta hums, “and why do that when we have the whole day to ourselves? We can just lie.” She hugs him._ **

** _“You know we can’t do that.” He looks at her, disappointed, “are you okay? You’ve been ignoring the fact that… your mom…” Accra trails off, hesitant._ **

** _Jakarta’s eyes water, “not here. Not now.” She wipes off her tears harshly._ **

** _They went to the bathroom_ **

** _Jakarta looks at the mirror, “you know, she only wanted to protect me. Even though she wanted to turn me in to the police, I know she only did that so she wouldn’t see me dead on TV.” Her eyes water._ **

** _Accra looks at her, “what was she like?”_ **

** _She smiles softly and looks down, “she… worked in a factory. And if she didn’t make enough, she’d work at night. She doesn’t really know anyone that she could leave me with, I was scared. I think I was about eight? Nine?”_ **

** _“And your dad?” Accra asked._ **

** _“No. No dad.” She purses her lips._ **

** _Accra nods his head understandingly._ **

** _“The thing is, she drew a door,” Jakarta grabs a marker from her bag and draws a door on the wall, “she said that if I’m scared, I could open the door and she would be at the other side.”_ **

** _“Did you open it when she left?” Accra asked._ **

** _Jakarta shakes her head, “she said I could only open it once, that I should only open it if I really need to… so whenever I get scared, I always tell myself “you could hold out a little bit longer” and I did. But as every day passed, I felt lonelier than the day before, I thought I would’ve opened the door, but if I did, I can’t do it again… I never opened it.”_ **

** _“That’s very strong of you, um… thanks for sharing, I mean it.” Accra holds her hand._ **

** _Jakarta nods and gives him a small smile._ **

** _“And… um…” Accra licks his lips._ **

** _“And what?” Jakarta giggles._ **

** _“And…” he glanced at his watch, “oh shit! The car park!”_ **

  
  
  


“This is a regulated car park ticket from an Ibiza 1992. Two streets from here, check the date and time.” Rodrigo tells Seokjin as he points to the file.

The Professor runs inside the warehouse, cleaning his glasses. His face is still dirty from the car. He checks his watch, one minute left.

“It’s also the same day the robbers went to the museum,” Rodrigo says.

Seokjin smiles, “good job.” He nods, “I want you to run the registration number through the database. I’ll be the most expensive fine in history that will cost millions of euros, put me through the Professor.”

The Professor controls his breathing, he clears his throat and gets a piece of paper out.

Seokjin loosens his tie, “Professor?”

“Inspector.”

“I need an answer. I want those eight underaged hostages.” 

“Get a piece of paper and write these names down. Andrés de Fonollosa, Ricardo Ramos, Ágata Jiménez, Silene Oliveira, Aníbal Cortés, Sergio Marquina, Silvia Moreno, Agustín Castell.” He lists down.

Hugo walks over to Seokjin and aggressively points to Lisa’s picture, “and what about Lisa Manoban? One of the students from Brighton, I want her on the list.” Seokjin asked.

The Professor scoffs, “I see that you are aware, Inspector. But you know as well as I do that Lisa is a queen of hearts in this house of cards that I’m building. I can’t do it.”

“It’s a prerequisite that she comes out,” Seokjin says.

“I’ll make you a proposal. Lisa in exchange for the life of those eight people.” 

“Excuse me?” Seokjin asked, taken aback, Hugo nods.

“I’ll give you Lisa Manoban and no one else. We both know how important she is for you and me. If you want her to come out, she will come out alone.”

“I will have to consult it.” Seokjin looks at Hugo, the elder aggressively facepalms.

“One minute.” The Professor says and hangs up, taking a deep breath.

“Call him right now, and tell him that Manoban is coming out. That’s final.” Hugo says pointing to Lisa’s picture.

“I won’t do that, it is unethical to make a choice on a hostage’s life when you can save eight,” Seokjin argues.

“I don’t give a fuck about your ethics bullshit, start believing in the opposite. This is a matter of state.” Hugo retaliates.

Seokjin shakes his head.

“The first thing that’s out is the ambassador’s daughter. The rest can wait.” Hugo stares at him.

Seokjin still shakes his head.

“I will take the blame.” Hugo leans over to him.

Seokjin closes his eyes, trying to calm himself down, “put me back with the Professor.” He looks at Hugo.

The Professor licks his lips, his hands start to sweat. He waits a couple of rings before answering, “yes?”

“Lisa Manoban,” Seokjin says, his eyes not looking away from the Colonel, Hugo nods and leans back.

The Professor scowls, “are you sure? You’d rather have Lisa Manoban instead of eight students?”

“Yes. I’m sure.” 

“I see. Well, I need to think this over, I wasn’t expecting that to be your answer… give me an hour.” The Professor said.

“Alright, I’ll be waiting for your phone call.”

“Oh. Inspector, if I don’t call you back, you know my answer.” The Professor hangs up.

Seokjin immediately adjusts his tie, “what the hell does he mean by that?” He stands up.

“I don’t know,” Hugo replies, looking up at him.

“Jin, I received more info about the Ibiza. No insurance, no owners, no taxes. It’s like a ghost owned it.” Rodrigo said, giving him the file.

Seokjin takes a deep breath, “Attention! Everyone come over, please.”

The workers looked at him anticipating an order.

“How far would you go to make a car disappear with no trace?” Seokjin asked all of them.

“Set it on fire.” A worker said.

“Okay,” Seokjin nods, “search for reports of burnt cars, both municipal and from the Guardia Civil.”

The Professor hears this and starts fidgeting.

“Sink it.” Another worker said.

“Good, look for any news of a car found inside any swamps, rivers, or wherever you can sink it in.” Seokjin orders, “what else?”

“Dismantle it, sell the parts,” Miguel says, crossing his arms.

“Oh! You can bury it.” An intern said.

Seokjin looks at him, eyebrows up.

“You know, dig a hole and then… yeah, I’ve seen it in the movies.”

Seokjin looks at the others, “anything else? What about any way to make a car disappear and erase any trace of it?”

The Professor gulps.

“Make it a cube of scrap in a junkyard,” Seokjin says, walking towards the front of the room. 

The Professor closes his eyes and rests his head on his hands.

“Everyone, make this a priority. Search in junkyards and any similar places.”

“Jin, it’s a Sunday. They’ll be closed.” Rodrigo says.

“Then get the owner out of their house if needed. Now hurry up!” Seokjin orders.

The Professor starts banging his hands on the desk, he stands up and grabs his backpack. He walks over to a metal cupboard, scanning through the items, he takes a small case that is labeled,  _ Cairo _ , inside is a button from an item of clothing. He also grabs a bolt cutter and shoves it in his bag, he wears his motorcycle helmet.

* * *

Cairo leads Silvia inside his office. She turns around to look at him, “I feel better now, please let me go.”

“Calm down, I won’t do anything to you.” Cairo narrows his eyes, “you’d only be here for a moment, just relax. You can take a seat.”

Silvia slowly walks towards the chair in front of the desk, “what are you going to do to me?” Her voice is unstable.

Cairo looks at her, his right eyebrow raised. He pulls a zip tie from his pocket, “give me your hands.”

“N-no.” She puts her hands behind her back. Silvia stares at him, “don’t do this, please. I’m just a minor.” Her eyes tearing up.

Cairo looks at her, his face disgusted. “I might be a thief, but how dare you accuse me of doing such things? This is so I make sure you won’t do stupid shit.” 

Silvia stands still, her head down.

Cairo wraps the zip tie around her wrists, “don’t you get it? It’s them who are scared now, the others.”

“Ladies, Silvia is coming back, okay? She’s just a little girl, they won’t do anything to her.” Ariadna whispers, adjusting in her seat.

The other women in the room are anxious, waiting for Silvia’s return.

* * *

The Professor returns to the junkyard once again, he cuts through the wired fence. This time, he knows where the man is stationed, as well as his dog. He successfully avoids them and sneaks towards the Ibiza. He adjusts his position and opens his bag, hair net, gloves, shoe covers, and a mask. He wears all of them and goes in the car. He grabs a bottle of alcohol and starts drizzling it everywhere in the car. A bottle of ammonia is poured onto a piece of cloth, he starts wiping everything. The Professor starts coughing, the smell still pierces through the mask. He quickly looks around him making sure no one is there. He gets the small case, Cairo’s button. 

** _"I'll buy a Maserati." Sucre says, "The clear blue sky as the color, huh? What do you guys think?" _ **

** _"Poetic." Arad smiles._ **

** _"And then! A martial arts gym." Sucre continues._ **

** _"Do you even do martial arts?" Citadel asks._ **

The Professor remembers that day, all of them were at the table sharing amongst each other their plans after the robbery. He remembers that Cairo was wearing his green suit jacket, standing near the window playing with the button that used to be sewn in. He strategically places it on the crease by the passenger’s seat, and just like that police sirens started to be heard in the area. He quickly got out of the car and closed it, ripping the mask off and starting to breathe heavily, he put the mask in his pocket and ran trying to avoid the police. He hides inside a van, a sudden whimper caught his attention. He looks behind him, a stray dog with its head tilted to the right. The Professor gives the dog space, “shh.” He says with his finger up.

The owner of the place pats the hood of the car, “this is the red car.”

“Do you know how long it's been here?” Seokjin asked, Rodrigo, looking at the vehicle.

“I don’t know,” the man said, feeling bad, “the boss is not here. I don’t remember.”

The Professor looks around the van, finding a bunch of scrap metal and tools. He grabs the small pliers and takes off his jacket, he starts ripping it, taking his glasses off.

“Excuse me, but your boss told me you know all the cars that are brought in.” Rodrigo made a face.

The Professor rips his shirt, and pours alcohol in his mouth and spits it out, his throat starting to burn.

“How long?” Rodrigo asked, slowly.

“A-about twenty days?” The man answered.

“Do you know who brought it?” 

“Foreigner.” The man answered, his head down.

The Professor starts to rip his pants as well, he starts to feel uneasy.

“He spoke Serbian, but does not look European.” The man followed up.

Rodrigo nods.

“Go and bring the gloves and call CSI. Tell them we’ve got the car.” Seokjin ordered an officer.

The Professor finds oil and starts to rub it on his face and body.

“Listen, sir, I understand that the man who left the car showed you his ID.

The Professor also grabs dirt to conceal his face.

“You probably issued an invoice for the purchase of the vehicle, didn’t you?” Seokjin asked.

Some of the dirt went into the Professor’s eye, he winced.

“A ticket,” Seokjin said in English.

“Da. Da,” the man nods, “yes. M-maybe.”

“What do you mean maybe?” Rodrigo asked.

“May you please go to the office and see if you find something, will you?” Seokjin asked, holding Rodrigo back.

The Professor finds a metal wire and sticks it up to his nose, he cuts it from the inside, making it bleed.

As the worker was about to call, he hears the news radio, “... a conversation in which Inspector Seokjin Kim negotiates with one of the kidnappers, supposedly the ringleader…”

The Professor wears his worn-out coat and sees a collar and he looks at the dog. The animal blinking at him.

“Inspector. Please come over.” The worker said, Seokjin’s radio goes off and he walks towards him. As he was walking to the car, the Professor came out of the van limping, the dog beside him. 

Seokjin looks at them, “Hey!”

The Professor keeps walking, looking straight ahead.

“Go see that man and what’s he doing here.” Seokjin orders.

“B-but it might just be a homeless person.” The worker replied, looking at the other’s dirty body.

“It’s an order,” Seokjin says, and walks to the car.

The worker nods.

_ The Inspector had checkmated most, probably. But even at that moment of desperation, the Professor had kept an extra ball to play that was starting to be on all the radios. _

Seokjin steps in the car.

“...the spokesman in the shadow has described as deplorable and shameful that diplomatic relations take precedence over the life of eight Spanish adolescents.”

Seokjin furrowed his brows.

“We remind you of the content in the recording.” The reporter said.

Every minute counts, earlier before the Professor left the warehouse, he called back to the others.

“Yes?” Jakarta answers the phone.

“Jakarta, listen to me.”

_ The Professor had ordered me to leak the conversation with the Inspector. A conversation that placed the Spanish Government in a very awkward position, and the Inspector himself. _

“Lisa Manoban.” 

“Are you sure? You’d rather have Lisa Manoban instead of eight students?”

“Yes. I’m sure.” 

Seokjin hears his voice from the recording and immediately slams his fist on the wheel.

_ And perhaps because Cairo called him a “softie” and had decided to bang his fist on the table and punish those who deceived him… _

“The decision to release Lisa Manoban, the daughter of the British ambassador, instead of eight Spanish students, has been without a doubt a controversial decision…” The reporter said, the TV was now located at the main floor where the hostages are, the people were looking around, some with disgusted looks on their faces, others were worried.

_ Or simply that leak started to make us look like heroes in the eyes of the general public but Seokjin was like a hound dog, who had picked up a scent and she wouldn’t lose because that scent was the head of the operation. _

Seokjin steps out of the car.

“Stop! Police!” The officer said as he walked over to the Professor, his mouth open wide in shock. He was introduced to a dirty man with a bloody nose and mouth, shaking with his dog looking at its surroundings.

“I don’t see anything,” Rodrigo said, looking at the Ibiza from the outside.

Seokjin opens the car door with a gloved hand and looks around, he crouches down and sees a small button at the crease of the seat.

“What are you doing here?” The officer asked.

“I-I wasn’t stealing.” The Professor said, his voice changed. Sounded a lot smaller, weak.

The officer coughed due to his breath.

Seokjin got a whiff from the car, “what the hell is that smell?”

“Ammonia.”

Seokjin continues to look around, he finds a stray hair net.

“I-I wasn’t stealing.” The Professor repeated limping towards the officer, blood coming out of his mouth.

_ The Professor had become a wretch of a human being to escape, but his performance had not ended and more was yet to come to avoid checkmate, and he did it. _

The Professor chokes on his spit and blood sputtered out of his mouth, as this happened, he forced himself to pee his pants, and even though it was embarrassing, he had to sell the character.

The officer felt bad as he looked down, “you can go.”

A bottle of ammonia was spotted once again, leading them to the van. Seokjin kicks the door open, nothing. 

But the man who came out of the van was still fresh on his mind, “it was him.” Seokjin whispers, “it was him!” He gets his gun from his holster, Rodrigo following him.

The Professor looked back, the officer gone. 

He started to run, letting go of the dog, it whimpered and ran after him. “Shit.” He whispered, he grabbed the dog and was careful to not drop blood on it.

Seokjin and Rodrigo run to the exit. They were greeted with no one, the streets were silent.

They were too late.


	8. FRAUDULENCE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jakarta catches Lisa flirting with Accra and confronts her. The police suspect a spy is in their midst.

_ That Sunday Kim Seokjin missed for just a few seconds, the chance to see the Professor’s face. And that was the last face needed to complete the jigsaw puzzle of the kidnappers and move to the last part of the case. He already had Accra’s face, mine, and now he’s about to get Cairo’s. _

_ The Professor had anticipated that Seokjin would eventually get those photos. Like a deck of cards, he was sorting out little by little so the Inspector was busy playing with the cards. His face had to be the only one Seokjin would never obtain. _

_ The Professor’s very anonymous, next thing you know his face will be drawn by the police. The loose end had left him at very high risk. So now, if the Inspector played his cards right and gets the Professor’s face, the game would be over. The checkmate would be irreversible. _

* * *

SUNDAY 12:06 AM

Seokjin was at home for a break. He was washing his face when he heard the TV report.

“Lisa Manoban.” 

“Are you sure? You’d rather have Lisa Manoban instead of eight students?”

“Yes. I’m sure.”

He watched as the lady complained, “how can he be so careless? He did not even hesitate. Inspector Kim is not from here, so maybe that is why he valued another foreigner, no?”

Seokjin looks at the TV, worried.

“When someone is capable of making a decision that way, I am just speechless. I’m so disgusted.” 

The Professor had finished taking a bath, all the disgusting oil, and dirt away from his body. His mouth stopped bleeding, as well as his nose.

50TH HOUR OF THE ROBBERY

“And for Inspector Kim to decide that the life of eight Spanish teenagers is worth less than the life of an English girl, it's outrageous!” 

The Professor hears this coming from his computer, a live stream of the news.

“But Lisa Manoban has dual citizenship.” A lady said.

“The main thing with the hostages is that we should think about this from Inspector Kim’s side. I really don’t think that he is required for this type of calibre. He may have an extensive career in the police force, a psychologist, a criminologist even… what more could you ask for? I’ll give him credit where credit is due, but he is showing favoritism to someone who is not born here in our country, just like him.” The male host argued.

The Professor watched, feeling disgusted by the man’s accusations.

“The problem right now is the Inspector Seokjin Kim has also pressed charges for physical abuse.” Seokjin’s eyes tear up. His daughter comes into his room, looking up at the screen.

“Luca!” Seokjin rushes to find the remote to turn it off.

“It has something to do from his point of view, feeling emotionally affected. He’s probably under some medication? Making him act this way. Maybe he’s unstable—” The statement was cut off by Seokjin’s mother unplugging the TV.

“Jin, Luca has talked to her mother.” Seokjin’s mom holds Luca’s hand, “honey, why don’t you tell Appa what your mom told you.”

“She told me that I could live with her,” Luca said, not understanding the way Seokjin’s expression changed.

Seokjin takes a deep breath, he kneels down to her height. “Honey, y-you do know that if you move in with your mom, we will see each other much less.”

“B-But won’t that be the same? You’re never home.” She blinks.

Seokjin’s hand started to shake, “Luca… Appa doesn’t want you to move in with your mom because… because your mom is not good and has hurt me a lot. D-Do you understand?” 

“But mom told me you were lying,” Luca said, confusion clear on her face.

Seokjin holds her hand, “you know what? I’ll make it up to you… okay? How about we go out and get you your favorite cupcakes, hm? I know I haven’t been home a lot, and Grandma has been taking care of you. I try to be here as much as possible, Luca. I really do—”

Luca comes closer and gives him a hug, Seokjin feels a tear on his neck. 

“I’ll make it up to you,” Seokjin repeats as he hugs her back.

“O-Okay, I’ll be patient, I’m sorry.” Luca sniffs.

“No, don’t be sorry. It’s my fau—”

“No! No! It’s your job’s fault.” Luca stands back, pouting. She forcefully wipes the tears out of her eyes.

Seokjin looks at his mom, she shakes her head, “you know what, how about you two go out and get those cupcakes? Okay? I’ll stay here.”

Seokjin smiles and nods, carrying Luca as they both went out of his room.

Seokjin’s mother stays, she plugs the TV back. 

“...the questions about this heist has us anxious. Who are the kidnappers? How long will they stay inside? Do they want the money? Are they doing this to protest against financial institutions? When will the police decide to go in and infiltrate the bank?”

  
  


** _“Why won’t the police come in?” Jakarta asks as she eats a piece of her sliced chicken, the team was eating outside this time, surrounded by the fresh air and natural sunlight._ **

** _“Because we’re going to lock the door from the inside.” Sucre started to laugh, as he passed the plate of food to Accra. _ **

** _Jakarta imitates his laugh, making a funny face, mocking him._ **

** _“Oh, she’s pissed now.” Sucre widens his eyes, pursing his lips._ **

** _“They won’t get in, because Spain doesn’t want them to.” The Professor said, drinking his soda._ **

** _“Are they going to hold a referendum just for that?” Citadel asked, giggling._ **

** _Accra shrugged, “you never know.”_ **

** _“Listen, back in 2011, a group of young people started to occupy Puerta del Sol, the most emblematic square in Spain, more than twenty thousand people went there.” The Professor starts._ **

** _“It’s about 15-M, right?” Kyoto asked, setting his plate down as he sat._ **

** _“Exactly. If we have been told that twenty thousand people would camp on Puerta del Sol for a month and police officers were going in, we would have never believed it. We’d say that's impossible.”_ **

** _“But it was that way. The police didn’t go in.” Cairo adds._ **

** _The Professor nods, “but why?” He looks around the table, Sucre and Kyoto shrugging their shoulders, Resita pours himself a drink as Arad continues to eat. Jakarta and Citadel waiting for his answer._ **

** _“Because Spain as a whole stood by those youngsters.” The Professor answered._ **

** _“Sure, but those youngsters had tents and we have guns.” Jakarta says, “it’s way different, no?”_ **

** _“But politics is politics.” Resita says, eating a piece of bread, “money is money… Sangria is Sangria.” He picks up his glass._ **

** _The rest of the table started to laugh, the Professor giving a smile._ **

** _“No, but I’m serious when I say this. Because of Sangria, police will definitely come in.” Resita says, pointing at the pitcher, “Živeli!” he raises the pitcher and drinks from it._ **

** _“No! No! Don’t do that!” Citadel winces._ **

** _“Resita!” The whole group groaned._ **

** _The Professor waited a bit for the table to calm down, “we will be the Resistance trapped in that rat hole. The same way they were the Puerta del Sol Resistance. And the Resistance always has the people’s support.” He smiles, “and if that doesn't work, the police will know we have assault weapons, explosives. No elite unit will be able to tell the difference between us and the hostages. No home minister will order the entry, no one.”_ **

** _“Why not?” Citadel asked._ **

** _“Because we will have underaged students on board.”_ **

  
  


Hugo comes up to him.

“Choosing Lisa Manoban’s life over those eight students’ lives was your decision. You told me that the Intelligence Service would assume the consequences. Now, go out there and tell the press that it was you.” Seokjin points his finger at the Colonel, “It was you and your CNI friends.”

“The Intelligence Service cannot make those statements.” Hugo’s voice is cold, “but don’t worry, the President’s Office is aware and you have full support from the government.” 

“Listen, I could care less about the government’s support. All I care about is what my daughter and my mother think. I would not settle for them to see my name being dragged around the mud, being disrespected.”

“Inspector, it was never those people’s intention to release Lisa Manoban nor those eight students. It’s a trap. I’ll tell you one thing once this is over, no one will remember it.” Hugo steps back, “it’s like Spain’s football team, it doesn’t matter what they did in the beginning, once you give them a happy ending, you’ll be called the country’s hero. But if this ends up with sixty-seven people dead, we will be too.”

Seokjin turns around, “Miguel!” He calls out.

“Yes, Inspector?”

“I want the forensic tests results on the Ibiza, now. A-And the report from the Underground Unit, where is it?” 

Miguel nods and walks away to do as he’s told.

“Oh and Mister Hugo, go to your Intelligence team and tell me how the hell those robbers are going to come out.” 

  
  


** _“Professor, I have a question. How are we going to come out of there?” Accra asked, pulling his bread apart._ **

** _“Through a tunnel.” The Professor replies, wiping his mouth with a napkin._ **

** _“Won’t the police find that out in a couple of minutes?” Sucre asked, pouring himself a drink of water._ **

** _The Professor looks at him, he takes a pen out of his pocket, he starts to put his plate away from him, Citadel and Cairo clearing the space. _ **

** _“Look, this is the bank seen from above,” the Professor drew a bird’s eye view on the tablecloth._ **

** _Sucre stands up to see._ **

** _“As soon as you enter, you will make some hostages break the cement, right here. The boiler room, in the basement.”_ **

** _Kyoto sits up to look at the drawing._ **

** _“This is exactly thirteen metres from the sewage system.” The Professor draws a line._ **

** _“Thirteen metres? At that distance, any GPR system would detect us.” Kyoto says, his eyebrows raised._ **

** _The Professor nods, “a GPR system has a fifteen-metre range. Or maybe, they will use a seismograph that will detect the vibration from the jackhammer. Because of that, they’ll think we’ll be escaping through here, yes?”_ **

** _Everyone on the table nods._ **

** _“So we are not going to leave there, are we?” Kyoto asks._ **

** _“No.” The Professor smiles._ **

** _Sucre laughs, “yeah! That’s right!”_ **

** _“We’ll exit through another tunnel. A tunnel that they won’t be able to see. Because it is twenty-six metres from any other drain, and mainly because it’s already there. We just need to make a hole to open it from there. Vault number three.”_ **

  
  


The first day they got there after Kyoto and Sucre collected the money inside the vault. Kyoto has started to do his project, make an opening for the team to escape.

** _“When was it built?” Citadel asked._ **

** _“I had it built five years ago.” The Professor said._ **

** _“No way,” Citadel said looking at Jakarta._ **

** _Sucre laughs._ **

** _“Once you make the hole to connect the tunnel to the factory, you’ll find four hundred eighty-six metres already excavated to a warehouse that is already prepared for you.” The Professor is talking about the warehouse where he will be staying for the meantime._ **

** _“No fucking way. You’re so smart.” Jakarta says in awe._ **

** _“Hats off to you, Professor!” Citadel pats him on the back._ **

** _“But what about the surveillance cameras? The ground has also been sealed, hasn’t it?” Kyoto asked._ **

** _“That’s right. There’s a first layer made of steel and a second one with reinforced concrete, and besides, no pneumatic drill can be used there.” The Professor said, “it has to be done by hand, a thermal lance and a circular saw.”_ **

** _Kyoto nods, agreeing, “how many metres?”_ **

** _“Sixteen centimetres of steel. Eighty centimetres of reinforced concrete. Then finally, soil._ **

** _“And um, how long? How long will it take to make the hole?” Resita asked._ **

** _The Professor looks at Kyoto, “ten. Maybe twelve days.” Kyoto answers._ **

** _“That’s how long we will stay there. Say around… two hundred million euros printed per day?” Cairo smirks._ **

** _“Two thousand four hundred million!” Citadel sings._ **

“The CSI has confirmed traces of ammonia and alcohol on the dashboard, upholstery, windows. Everywhere. The lab’s chemical report reveals that those products were used only a few minutes before we got there.” Rodrigo says looking at Seokjin, “that made me think that maybe they are part of a gang. That they were there almost at the same time as us.”

“What about the homeless man?’ Seokjin asked.

“No trace of him. We have viewed the traffic surveillance cameras and shops nearby and we saw nothing.”

The Professor hears this as he feeds the dog.

“But there’s good news, the lab was able to isolate a fingerprint on the button you found. The owner has previous charges. They are sending us the file right now.”

“Attention! Everyone, I need you to leave the tent for a few minutes. Everyone except Inspector Rodrigo.” Seokjin orders.

The workers look at them both, confused.

“This would only take a minute, please.” Rodrigo follows up.

The workers start to slowly walk outside, Hugo looks at them and Seokjin motions him to come closer.

“Could it be a coincidence that the guy, the homeless man, got to the junkyard before we did? Seokjin asked.

“No, it’s not a coincidence. It could be a mole amongst us.” Rodrigo says, “but what are we going to do about it?”

“Find him.” Seokjin tells Hugo, the man nods and walks away.

The Professor pets the dog as he listens.

The computer beeps, “the police file is here.” Rodrigo announces.

All of the crimes Cairo has committed, his whole illegal blueprint displayed on the screen.

* * *

Seung Hyun slowly felt the thermometer being poked inside his mouth, his vision blurry coming from sleep. It was Resita, cleaning his wound, checking for infection. Seung Hyun blinked trying to sit up.

“Calm down, everything is fine,” Resita says in a hushed voice.

Seung Hyun looked down to see the bullet wound, the smell of blood not too strong as Resita replaced the old bandage with a new one.

“I took care of many men during war, nothing to worry about,” Resita said.

Seung Hyun’s eyes slowly become heavier and heavier, he goes back to sleep.

“Yoongi.” Sucre caresses the other’s face.

Yoongi’s eyebrows twitch, lips forming into a pout.

“Yoongi?” Sucre gently shakes his shoulders, “how do you feel?”

“Better.” Yoongi grunts, “what are you doing here?”

Sucre scratches his head, “it's my turn to sleep, the others are patrolling for me. I just thought I’d swing by to see how you’re doing.” He smiles, “it’s hot in here isn’t it?” 

“Not as hot as you,” Yoongi widens his eyes, “I-I mean you probably feel hotter because you have your jumpsuit on, I’m wearing my shirt and boxers, so…”

“Yeah.” Sucre hides his blush and walks in front of him to get a bottle of water.

“You know, you can also sleep here too. If you want… I’m okay with it.” Yoongi says.

“Oh no. It’s fine, I’ll just sit… over here. Do you want water too?”

Yoongi shakes his head as he points to a water bottle near him, “I’ll just… go back to sleep, if that’s okay?”

“Oh yeah, of course.”

As Yoongi went back to sleep, Sucre decided to get comfortable and take off his shirt. He does the same.

“Taehyung Kim. He has a detention warrant. Jewellery shops, vans, auction houses. White-collar thefts. No exit stamps in his electronic passport.” Rodrigo reads the file.

Seokjin holds Cairo’s picture, “he probably has a fake one then.”

“As far as I can see, no record of any family or friends either. The regular informants don’t know who he is. No address, census, or any registry. I can only think of talking to his cellmate, they shared the same cell in Soto del Real prison.” 

“Alright, then do that. Start the paperwork to bring him into the tent.” Seokjin says.

“Wait, hold on. There’s more from the forensic psychiatry department. Want me to read it?” Rodrigo asked.

Seokjin turns to him and nods.

“We are before a narcissist, egocentric, with delusions of grandeur…”

“I’ve gathered here to tell you a little about how things are going on and to put an end to some rumours,” Cairo announces in front of the hostages in the main hall. Citadel and Jakarta watching him.

“He shows an absolute lack of empathy.” Rodrigo continues.

“There is a rumour that’s going around, Mister Yoongi Min has passed away, and that rumour is not good.” Cairo squints, “rumours create uncertainty and anxiety… that’s why I would like to explain it all.”

Citadel looks at him, she bites her tongue.

“It is true, Mister Yoongi Min, your colleague, has been executed,” Cairo says looking at the ceiling, dramatically.

The annoying sounds of people being gasping and crying, ring in his ears.

“An eccentric man, with a tendency to megalomania which makes him unable to differentiate evil from good,” Rodrigo says, his eyebrows furrowed.

“I would also like to share other news.” Cairo says, walking down the stairs, “I’d like for everyone to know that this heist is going very smoothly.” He chuckles.

Jakarta looks at him carefully.

“He has a great sense of honour and has a pathological need to make a good impression. Especially on strangers.” Rodrigo pauses and looks at Seokjin.

Seokjin takes a deep breath.

“Therefore, I want to thank you. Thank all of you who are doing your best and collaborating with each other. Especially Mister Escamilla, please step forward.”

Citadel looks at the old man shyly walking towards the front. She has grown to like him.

“My man, Paco Escamilla.” Cairo smiles, “would you like to say a few words, Citadel?”

Citadel walks towards the old man and puts her arm around his shoulders, “this gentleman has been printing banknotes for twenty-seven years. And today, he has beaten his own record. Because in forty hours, this man has printed… Mister Escamilla, tell them how much you’ve printed.” Citadel whispers to him with a grin.

Cairo looks at him, his eyebrows raised in anticipation.

“Three hundred and eleven million euros,” Escamilla said, his head down.

“Please say it louder for the world to hear, say it loud and proud Mister Escamilla,” Citadel says.

“Three hundred and eleven million euros,” Escamilla said confidently.

“Three hundred and eleven million euros! Cairo, do you hear this?!” Citadel points at him, still standing at the stairs.

“Three hundred and eleven million euros! He did that alone!” Cairo claps, his face is determined.

“W-Well, my colleagues helped me.”

“Would you look at that, Citadel. Mister Escamilla is a humble man as well.” Cairo smiles.

“Thank you, Mister Escamilla. Thank you! This goes to everyone as well! You know what you are Mister Escamilla, you are the hostage of the fucking month!” Citadel sings as she raises the man’s hand up, signifying victory.

“Everyone, let’s give Mister Escamilla praise and a big round of applause!” Cairo shouts, voice clear as he starts clapping loudly.

Jakarta and everyone in the room started to clap.

“Come on, everyone! Make him feel how much we love him!” Cairo smiled and continued to walk down to approach the man.

Escamilla nods, “thank you.”

Cairo walks up to Escamilla and shakes his hand. He looks up to see Resita with Seung Hyun. “Everyone! Another good news, your beloved CEO, who is finally out of danger! Mister Seung Hyun, come down!” He announces.

Seung Hyun looks at Resita, not knowing what to do.

As the other people clap, Cairo sees the chaperone with her hand raised, she was in charge of the students.

Cairo shushes everyone and walks towards her.

“May I have a word with you in private, please?” Her eyes are not meeting his as she looks downwards.

Cairo looks at Citadel and makes a face, “Follow me.”

“I want you to leak everything you can about this man to the press.” Seokjin orders Rodrigo.

“What for?” Rodrigo asked.

“What for? Because that man is turning this into a fucking show like he’s the main role. I want Spain to think about how an eccentric is hosting a lot of adolescents hostage.” 

“Seokjin, I doubt you’ll win over the people by saying that the kidnappers’ leader is eccentric. This country loves eccentric people.” Hugo says.

The Professor shakes his head chuckling.

“You need more.” Hugo continues.

Seokjin looks at him, “like what?”

“Trafficking women, an unsolved pimping case. Something that people won’t forgive.” Hugo looks at him, face stern.

Seokjin looks at him speechless.

The Professor glares at the radio, “no, don’t do it, Seokjin. Don’t stoop so low.”

“That’s not in his file. He only stole—” Rodrigo gets cut off.

“I don’t care. We are losing.” Hugo says.

Seokjin looks at Hugo, “fine. Leak it. An on-going investigation for trafficking in women from east European countries, underaged girls. Released for collaborating with the police.”

The Professor tsks, he takes his glasses off and massages his eyes.

“Good. I’m going to the agency to prepare everything.” Hugo says and walks out of the tent.

“Wait, Jin. Are you sure about this? We’re about to defame a person, lie about them.” Rodrigo grabs his arm.

“Oh really? Look, Rodrigo, my name is on TV, and everyone watching now knows me as the biggest bastard. Then all of a sudden my ex-wife has taken this opportunity to ask my daughter if she wants to move in with her. She told Luca that I was lying. She told my fucking daughter that I was lying. Do you know what this means, Rodrigo? She’s going to sue me for sole custody of my daughter, that she’ll speak to the judge and tell them, ‘Your honour, that bastard is not fit to raise my daughter.’ And you know what? Because of all the shit on TV, the judge might even believe her.”

The Professor takes a deep breath.

“Hey, no judge will grant her sole custody, not to someone who physically abused you,” Rodrigo says, letting go of his arm.

“Not even my mother believes in me.” Seokjin closes his eyes, “how hard is it for a judge to believe that.”

“She forgets stuff, it’s not her fault. I believe you, Jin. I believe you. Fuck, I’d testify for you.” Rodrigo shrugs.

“Testify? You didn’t see anything.” Seokjin scoffs, turning his back on him.

“To hell with it, aren’t we going to defame Taehyung Kim? Doesn’t everyone do that to get to the top?” Rodrigo turns Seokjin around, “I-I can say that I saw the bruises, back when we were in the mountains. Not in Cercedilla, i-it’s the one in Miraflores.”

Seokjin pulls him in for a hug. Rodrigo slowly puts his arms around him, closing his eyes.

“Inspector, can we come in?

Seokjin immediately lets go of Rodrigo, “yeah, what’s wrong?”

“We came back from the junkyard, we questioned the Russian man.” 

The Professor quickly puts his glasses back on and grabs his small notebook.

“Nikolai Dimitrevich, apparently there was a man who asked about the car an hour before you arrived.” Miguel said.

The Professor writes the name down as they speak.

“The man spoke Russian to him, according to Nikolai’s description, the man could be the same person who spoke with Almansa, the homeless man.” Miguel continued.

“Bring Nikolai in, he can look through the files of delinquents from eastern Europe.” Seokjin looks at him, “get me a sketch too.”

“I want all the files of all Russians who have been questioned, arrested, and accused. There is a software that helps draw up a sketch here in the tent.” Rodrigo tells the other officers.

The Professor puts the notebook down and starts to search for everything he can about Nikolai Dimitrevich, and on the internet, anything is possible.

_ The image of the Professor is so unknown, like an unfinished puzzle with a thousand pieces. A simple witness can put all of the pieces together. Seokjin, who’d never believed in sketches, was going to have the key to the whole investigation. _

  
  


“Jessica… Denise… Laura… Paula… Aurora…” Accra was in the bathroom, handing out toiletries in small bags, “and Lisa.” He looks down, her wrists are still red with markings. “I’m sorry I tied you up so tightly before.” He whispered.

Lisa just looks at him and back to the small bag.

“But, fuck, you also put a rifle to my head. What did you expect me to do?” Accra gives her a small smile, “even though you're the ambassador’s daughter, you don’t act like it, huh?” 

“I guess not, this is the second most interesting I’ve ever done,” Lisa says, turning around to face the mirror.

“Really? What’s the first one?”

“Taking ballet lessons behind my father’s back.” Lisa shyly confesses. 

“Oh, really? That’s so bad.” Accra says playfully. He looked at the other girls, they were brushing their teeth, braiding each other’s hair, chatting with each other.

“My father has chosen everything for me.” Lisa turns around to look at him, “all my life he decided which school I’d go to, my university studies, even which house I’ll stay in while getting my degree in Oxford. 'Lisa learn which cutlery does what?', 'Lisa sign up for chess and debate club', 'Lisa do this, Lisa do that.'”

“And to defy him you signed up for ballet classes.” Accra points at her raising his eyebrows.

Lisa smiles, “he hated ballet, so…”

Jakarta walks into the bathroom, seeing Accra and Lisa standing very close to each other.

Accra sees her and steps back, “alright, well everyone collect their bags and go out when you’re done.” He leaves the room.

Jakarta walks behind Lisa, adjusting her hair in the mirror as Lisa organizes her bag. Other girls have left, Lisa was about to follow them but she was blocked by Jakarta, “what were you guys talking about?”

“Nothing,” Lisa says as she tries to pass her, not looking into Jakarta’s eyes.

“It was something about Oxford, right?” Jakarta nods at her.

“No, it’s about my life, just my father being bossy.” She tries to get out of her way, but Jakarta pushes her back gently.

“Are you going to invite him to your embassy?” Jakarta raises an eyebrow.

“Who?” Lisa asked, confusion clear on her face.

Jakarta rolled her eyes and smiled, “my boyfriend, Accra.”

“No.”

“Don’t lie to me, I’ve seen how you look at him,” Jakarta smiles, “I like his smile. What about you?”

Lisa stays quiet.

Jakarta starts to giggle, “he’s cute though, right?”

Lisa looks at her.

“Don’t worry, I’m not one to start a fight because of jealousy.” Jakarta’s smile drops.

They were both interrupted by Kyoto coming into the bathroom, he stands in front of the sink and washes his hands.

Jakarta looks at him and then Lisa, “off you go.” She tells her.

Lisa walks away fast with her bag.

Kyoto started to dry his hands.

“How long have you been there?” Jakarta asked, looking at him.

Kyoto walked away but stopped in front of the door, he gave her a dirty look and continued to walk.

  
  


“Three sexual assaults, five intoxications with narcotics, exhibitionism, a total thirty-eight years in prison, and you are still pending for trial. Is that true?” Seokjin asked.

The man in front of him blinks, “um, w-why am I here?” 

“You shared the same cell with this man,” Seokjin said, sliding Cairo’s picture in front of him, “did he have any contact with anybody?”

“No.”

“Any relatives? A girlfriend? Boyfriend?” Seokjin continues to ask.

“No, he never talked about anyone.” The man shook his head.

“You’re telling me that he didn’t mention anyone in the seven months that you two shared?” Seokjin asked.

“No. Sorry.”

“What about his hometown? Any place he wanted to go back to?”

“He didn’t say anything.”

Seokjin scoffs internally, “I don’t think you understand how this works. You need to tell me something, a clue to help us.”

The man blinks at him, he looks at Rodrigo, “I’ve been in prison for four years, I would need something in return.”

“Okay. How about this, I’ll sign a paper for the board of Soto for you to be released on parole. Under two conditions. One, give us information now, if it’s good, I’ll tell you the second. But you’ll get parole, you have my word.” Seokjin offers.

The man nods, “he used to inject himself with some medicine each month.”

“I have his infirmary records, it doesn’t mention any medical condition.” Seokjin shakes his head.

“Yes, I know. It’s his secret. Cabenuva, the name of the medicine.”

“How did he get that?”

“It’s very easy to smuggle anything in prison, you just put it up your ass.” The man shrugged.

The two policemen arrive with Nikolai.

“What’s the second condition?”

“That you volunteer to undergo chemical castration treatment, as soon as you ask for it, I’ll sign the form to be released on parole.” 

The man shakes his head.

“No? Alright, Miguel. Take him out.”

Miguel grabs the man’s arm and puts it behind his back. 

“You gave me your fucking word! You bitch!” The man shouted as Miguel dragged him out.

Seokjin looks at Rodrigo, “find out what Cabenuva is for, track any strange purchasing patterns in all the pharmacies during the last six months. If Taehyung injected that medicine each month, he had to get a big stash before going in, who knows how long they will stay there for.”

The Professor widens his eyes in worry.

“Only you. If we do have a mole, I don’t want them finding out.” Seokjin said, carefully. He walks up to the policemen, “Nikolai, I sent you in so you could identify the man from this morning, in the junkyard. Do you think you can describe his face to us? For a sketch?”

Nikolai nods, “absolutely.”

“Perfect. Rodrigo, tell the others to come in, we can start the sketch in a few minutes.”

  
  


“Listen, I’m very worried about one of my students, Silvia. She’s very fragile and… and I think she would feel more protected with the rest of the group.” The chaperone says.

“What subject do you teach in school, miss?” Cairo asks, completely ignoring her.

“Ethics and um, sexual education.”

Cairo raises his eyebrows, “oh, that’s important, isn’t it? What a duo.” He smiles.

She looks at his desk and sees a pair of scissors.

“Maybe you can help me with a problem. I would like to explain my theory to you.”

“Sure.” She replies, still looking at the scissors.

“You know I made it up because of a joke.” He chuckles and stands up.

“A joke?” She asks, an uncomfortable smile on her face.

Cairo nods, “you know for a joke to be funny, there has to be some truth in it, no? Even pain.”

“Really? That’s interesting.” She looks ahead.

“Have you heard about the one with the headache?”

She shakes her head.

“The husband arrives home, ‘Darling! I bought you some aspirin!’ Then the wife says, ‘but I don’t have a headache. Let’s just fuck.’” Cairo started to laugh, “have you noticed that the number of jokes that portray males trying to break down the female to obtain sex?” He asked seriously, “the women are always forced to do it, even if they don’t want to. Do you think that's true?”

She gulps, “S-Silvia, where is she?”

“Oh right! Come here.” Cairo opens the blinds and starts to give a little wave to Silvia, she was at the office in front of him. “Over there.”

The woman stands up and sees her student with tape on her mouth, hands tied behind her back. She feels disgusted, she slowly walks backwards, trying to get the scissors, she is interrupted when Citadel suddenly opens the door.

“What’s wrong, Citadel?” Cairo asked, closing the blinds.

Citadel looks at the chaperone and then him, “you’re on TV.”

Cairo looks at her, his jaw clenches, “Arad, take her back. It’s a pleasure talking to you, miss. Just tell me whenever you want to talk about ethics while you cut me open.” He bumps into her shoulder as he leaves his office. 

Citadel and Cairo walked away, Arad failed to see her quickly steal the pair of scissors.

  
  


“Those are the eyes.” Nikolai points, as the officer, continue to work on the face.

“We will have his face very soon, Inspector,” Almansa reports to Seokjin.

The Professor stands up and grabs a jacket and a cap, he takes off his glasses and goes out of the warehouse.

_ That day the Professor embarked on something he never imagined he would do. Look for the police to save his own skin. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> is cairo's report even true? or its also false? idk,,,


	9. RESURRECTION

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Professor races to stop a witness from identifying him. Cairo seeks revenge once his own name is revealed and slandered in the press.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aka the chapter where kyoto confronts jakarta about her "relationship" with accra and a showdown between cairo and sucre, but sucre knows stuff about cairo's personal life

SUNDAY 3:15 PM

53RD HOUR OF THE HEIST

Yoongi slowly wakes up from the heat in the vault. He guzzles his water, immediately running out. He slowly crawls towards Sucre, where the bottles stayed. Yoongi takes a good look at the other’s face, not paying attention to his shirtless body. He slowly traces a finger towards Sucre’s cheekbones, gently admiring the soft skin. Sucre’s face twitches and turns his body around to the other side. Yoongi draws his hand back, slowly grabbing another water bottle before crawling back to his space. He sighs.

  
  


“Known for perpetrating numerous robberies at jeweller’s and luxury shops, Taehyung Kim is also responsible for other sexual offences.”

Cairo stands in front of the computer, and, as the reporter continued slandering his name, remained silent.

“What a fucking resume you have, huh, Cairo? Is this true? The Professor told us he hired people who don’t have anything to lose.” Citadel crosses her arms.

“In particular, being part of a ring of women trafficking brought in from eastern Europe. From Albania and Bulgaria, selling them afterwards.” The reporter said.

“Cairo, fucking answer me!” Citadel says, slamming her hand on the table.

He doesn’t move.

“Procuring, extortion of minors, deprivation of liberty, and as we mentioned earlier, he’s part of the robbery.”

“Minors? Is that why you have Sylvia all alone in an office?” Citadel asked, tone filled with disgust.

“Amongst them, the attempted robbery of a well-known jeweller’s shop in Vendôme Square. According to the latest news, Taehyung Kim has eluded this last charge thanks to his cooperation as an informant.”

“What the fuck are you going to do with Sylvia?!” Citadel pushes him, Cairo stands his ground.

“...identified by the police together with Jennie Kim, Jongin…”

“Answer me!” Citadel punches his face, blood coming out of Cairo’s nose.

Cairo steps back, throwing a chair across the room in anger, avoiding Citadel. 

She stops, panting as she looks at him.

“I would never sell women. Let alone be their fucking pimp.” Cairo’s grip tightens on the chair, “believe it or not, my ethics code doesn’t let me do it. The same way it stops me from telling on a colleague despite punching me in the fucking face.” His voice deep, filled with anger, “_ move _.”

Cairo walks towards the door, Citadel giving him space.

“A fingerprint from Taehyung Kim has been found on a button that the officers found in an Ibiza linked to the investigation.”

Cairo stops and grabs the doorframe, “I’ve never been in that car… but I know who did.”

** _It was one of those days where Cairo decided to go outside and breathe in the fresh air with his glass of wine at four in the morning. The sky is still dark, the stray cat was taking a nap on top of the Ibiza. It would be nice to go out for a drive and visit a friend, but that’s not an option, they have a plan, they have to be professional. He takes a closer look at the car, someone shifts at the backseat. He walks towards it, he squints, Sucre. He bangs on the door, waking the other up._ **

** _“W-What?” Sucre slurs._ **

** _“What the fuck are you doing with my suit jacket at four in the morning?” Cairo asks._ **

** _“Fucking hell,” Sucre whispers, realizing its Cairo._ **

“Citadel, do you by any chance know where Sucre is?” Cairo asked, voice haunting.

“No.” Citadel looks at him, her voice trying to be stable.

  
  


Kyoto lifts the section that has been cut by his thermal lance.

Jakarta stops by the vault, knocking to get his attention, “Do you need help? The sooner we finish this hole, the sooner we get out, no?”

“Are you bored of being with sixty-seven hostages and firing your M-16 at the cops outside the door?” Kyoto asked, not looking at her.

“No, I don’t think so.” She sits on top of a pile of money, this was the vault the brothers came into the first day they arrived.

“Then why did you try to bite the little lamb’s neck off. The hell was that for?”

“Nothing,” Jakarta said, looking down.

“Are you getting bored with playing with Accra?” Kyoto wipes his hands on his jumpsuit.

Jakarta frowns, “Why are you saying this?”

“Because you’re that kind of person.”

Jakarta stands up and walks towards him, “What kind of person?” 

“One that no parent wants for their son, one that no sibling wants for their brother.” 

Jakarta stands still, Kyoto looks at her letting his words sink in.

“Do you remember what happened in Toledo, when we ate paellas? The night of San Juan and you went to a street party with no permission.”

“Yeah.” Jakarta quietly mutters.

** _Sucre was on top of the car’s hood, the stray cat next to him. Jakarta was in the passenger’s seat and knocked on the window, she pointed to her unlit cigarette._ **

** _Sucre turns around, “roll the window down.” He grabs his lighter._ **

** _Jakarta smokes her unlit cigarette._ **

** _“Hey, I haven’t even got it yet.” Sucre laughs._ **

** _“Oh,” Jakarta laughs with him._ **

** _Sucre lights her cigarette and lays back down on the hood._ **

** _“Do you know that there are more than a thousand stars?” Jakarta slurs._ **

** _“You counted them all?” _ **

** _“Duh.”_ **

** _“You have some more alcohol in your room?” Sucre looks at his empty bottle._ **

** _“Yeah.” She smiles._ **

** _The two run inside, giggling like two children in the playground. They quickly arrived in Jakarta’s room, Sucre jumping towards her bed, she laughed quietly, not bothering to close the door._ **

** _“Hey, you wanna smoke weed too or…”_ **

** _“Why not?” Sucre grins, he grabs her radio and turns it on, soft music playing in the background. _ **

** _Jakarta bops her head to the beat._ **

** _“Hey, why did you tell me about the stars earlier?” Sucre questioned, playing with his fingers._ **

** _“No reason, why?” _ **

** _“It just seemed oddly romantic, no?” Sucre raises his brows._ **

** _Jakarta laughs, “Was it?” She crawls towards Sucre to sit next to him._ **

** _“I-I’m not into…” Sucre raises his hands._ **

** _Jakarta started to tickle him. The room was filled with the noises of Sucre trying not to laugh loudly, he failed._ **

** _Kyoto walks in, his arms crossed._ **

** _“Kyoto!!!” Jakarta sings._ **

** _“What are you doing here?” Sucre asked._ **

** _“I woke up and you weren’t in your room. Where have you been dressed like that in a time like this?”_ **

** _Jakarta shushes him, “we went to a street party,” She chuckles._ **

** _“No, don’t tell him that,” Sucre whispers._ **

** _“So you two went out of here when you’re not supposed to?” Kyoto asks, he comes in and closes the door._ **

** _“No! We didn’t go to a street party!” Sucre says sitting up._ **

** _“Hey, don’t lie.” Jakarta pokes Sucre’s cheek._ **

** _“We just stayed here drinking, we were off to bed,” Sucre said._ **

** _“Hey, I’ll just go to the bathroom. You two talk about whatever you need to talk about.” Jakarta saluted and went outside._ **

** _“What the fuck are you doing going out? When the Professor said not to?” Kyoto asked with a harsh whisper._ **

** _“Hey calm down, we didn’t get caught.” Sucre stands up grabbing the alcohol on Jakarta’s desk._ **

** _“Stop that.” Kyoto tries to pry it away from his hand._ **

** _“No!” Sucre pushes Kyoto to the ground, “I-I’m tired of it! I’m tired of you always doing this shit. Just let me have fun, goddamnit.” His face immediately realizing what he has done._ **

** _Kyoto gulps, he slowly stands up, patting the dust away from his pants, “don’t even think about sleeping in my room, not when you’re acting like this. I don’t even know you when you’re drunk. Go sleep in the damn car and think about what our parents would have said.” He storms off._ **

** _Sucre sniffs, walking downstairs to sleep in the car. His head filled with guilt._ **

  
  


“And what’s wrong? Am I not enough for him? Is that it?” Jakarta asked.

“He doesn’t even like you… even if he does, you’re too much for him. You live your life like a damn videogame, the robberies, the shooting, the lovers, the adventures you go through.”

Jakarta nods, “well yeah. You only have one life, might as well get the best of it.”

“No.” Kyoto shakes his head, “You enjoy leaping from one stone to another in a mud pool. Once the rock sinks you skip onto the next, leaving dead bodies floating around. _ That’s _ who you are.”

Jakarta gulps.

“Whose idea was it to rob the security van? Yours or your boyfriend?”

Jakarta doesn’t answer.

“Probably you, right? Now your boyfriend is dead, your mother too. You know how much harm you were doing to her, but you kept going. Accra’s next, and then who? Lisa?”

Jakarta’s eyes start to tear up.

“How do you define yourself when you constantly use people just because you are bored? If we all do our job and it goes badly, it’s all our fault. But if it fails because of a selfish brat who wants to leave early, I won’t allow it. So if you want to help, we have ten days. Let’s see if, for once in your life, you fucking finish what you’ve started.” Kyoto spits.

* * *

Sucre stretches his legs and arms, slowly waking up from his sleep.

Yoongi carefully watches him.

“How long was I asleep?” Sucre yawns.

“I don’t know,” Yoongi says, avoiding eye contact.

Sucre puts on his shirt, “You know, this is the first time I’ve slept with a guy and woke up to him still here.” He jokingly says.

“Well I have a damn bullet hole on my leg, I can’t really go anywhere, don't you think?” Yoongi snaps, regretting it in an instant.

Sucre stands up, “What’s wrong? Look, I’m sorry if I make you uncomfortable.”

“I need to go to the bathroom. I… I feel humiliated just doing it in a bucket.” Yoongi looks down.

“Okay, I-I’ll accompany you to the bathroom,” Sucre says, carefully putting his arms under Yoongi’s legs to carry him.

* * *

The Professor wanders around the street, on the lookout for police in the area. He adjusts his cap and sunglasses. He sees a parked police car next to a diner, he walks towards the place and sees the two policemen in line for their break. He puts on a glove and tries to open the door, however, it is locked. With careful eyes he sees a rock, he could smash the window but that would cause a scene and a mess, he has no time to clean up. He sees a shop and quickly walks towards it.

  
  


“Sucre!” Cairo sings, “My beloved brother! Come here!” He shouts as he walks through the basement, looking for the other. 

“Cairo! Damn it! Stop!” Citadel runs after him, her voice echoes in the room.

Cairo still has a bloody nose and refuses to wipe it off.

“Cairo! Hold on! Listen to me!” Citadel catches up to him, but leaves a space in between them, “listen, you’re right. Sucre might have lost the button on your jacket, but so what? You can’t change that.” She says, trying to reason with him.

“You’re right, but I can punish him.” He continues to walk.

“Cairo!” Resita, along with Arad walks towards them, “he’s not resting. Sucre’s not in the museum, or the tunnel, or the printing house.”

Citadel runs her hands to her hair, trying not to panic.

“Did he go to another street party again?” Cairo turns to look at Citadel, he faces Resita, “I’ll find him eventually, thank you.” He walks away.

“N-No, Cairo,” Citadel puts her hands together, pleading, “come to your senses. You can’t just shoot him because of a jacket, Cairo. That’s not professional. You’re a dude with an executive taste, that’s not a professional job, Cairo! Please!”

“And what about my fucking dignity, Citadel?” He asked, Resita and Arad following him, “I have a reputation to keep, goddamnit. My friend has probably seen my name connected to such disgusting lies. Sucre ruined my honour, Citadel. And when someone fucks with my honour, I’ll destroy them.” Cairo glares.

“A friend who believes in what the press says is no friend. They should know better than to assume those damn bastards are saying the right thing. Cairo, listen, reporters do everything they can to tarnish someone’s reputation, let alone a robber!” Citadel watches him, his chest breathing heavily.

“Ethics… are important, Citadel. But aesthetics are too.”

Citadel raises her eyebrows, “But please, Cairo. Don’t screw up the plan just because of this.”

“Tell her to stay here,” Cairo tells Resita in Serbian. He walks away, Arad following him.

Citadel huffs, “Where the fuck do you think you’re goin—” She was cut off by Resita pointing his gun at her, “Resita, what are you doing?”

“Stay.” 

She holds the barrel, “Are you going to shoot me?”

Resita shakes the gun, making her let go, “stay here.” He walks away.

“The jacket is a fucking joke! Y-You guys.” Citadel tears up and kneels down. She puts her hands on her face.

  
  


** _“Am I going overboard with the lipstick or no?” Citadel pouts in front of Jakarta’s mirror._ **

** _She giggles, “hey, at least you look good.”_ **

** _“Let’s party!” Accra opens the door._ **

** _The two women shush him, “sorry.” The younger apologized, “I got the Professor’s keys.” He smiled._ **

** _“Where’s Sucre?” Citadel whispered, “the fucking street party’s already calling my damn name.”_ **

** _Sucre slides in the door, dancing._ **

** _“You look elegant today,” Accra says._ **

** _“It’s Cairo’s jacket, it suits me, yeah?” Sucre spins for them, a bottle of alcohol already in his hand._ **

** _“Do an impression,” Jakarta says._ **

** _Sucre clears his throat and makes his voice deeper, “Have I ever told you about my five divorces?”_ **

** _Citadel swats his shoulders, “Hey. Stop it, let’s go.”_ **

** _“Do you think his five divorces are true? Maybe he’s just putting on a show, the man is into theatrics.” Accra shrugs, “maybe he’s not who we think he is… the Professor did say no personal info.”_ **

** _“You having an existential crisis or what?” Citadel laughs._ **

** _“Can we not think about Cairo when we’re about to go to a party?” Jakarta complains and holds Accra’s hand, leaving her room. The two follow her outside._ **

  
  


Accra was peacefully shoving the money inside a plastic bag when Jakarta walked into the room, she sat next to him.

“Hey.” He smiled, “You alright?”

“How would you describe me?” Jakarta asked, voice quiet.

“A badass woman who knows what she wants.” Accra grinned, “Why?”

“Because I think I am a selfish brat who fucks everyone up.” Tears glisten in her eyes, “I thought I was just different, turns out I’m a madwoman who causes pain everywhere she goes and gets bored easily, that’s why she wreaks havoc. She’s not having fun anymore.”

Accra lets the bag down.

“I don’t make people happy.” She scoffs.

“Well, if you’re trying to break up with me, make me go away, it’s not going to work,” Accra says, looking at her.

“Accra, I’m like a ticking time bomb that you don’t know when it will explode.”

“Then it’s a good thing I’m good at defusing bombs.” 

Jakarta gives a subdued laugh.

“Even if you’re toxic and I’m starting to get dizzy, I’ll still enjoy it.” Accra leans in for a kiss.

“I-It’s not healthy. Us. Our relationship it’s just—” Jakarta hides her face.

“Can’t we just cope a bit longer?” Accra asked.

Jakarta hugs him and leaves the room.

* * *

“Everyone, please be quiet,” Seokjin asked, loosening his tie. He calls the Professor but receives no answer. The phone continues to ring with no one picking up.

The Professor buys a hanger, using it to pry the window open. He manages to unlock the car, not noticing the small cut in his glove due to the wire.

“He has these glasses,” Nikolai said.

“Okay.” The officer with the identikit nods.

The Professor hops in the car and sees the two policemen approaching from the side view mirror. He ducks and grabs the radio, “Z-75, to all units. There is an armed robbery on Alcántara 33. It’s an ironmonger’s place, are there any units near?” He reports.

“Unit Z-32, we are just near the door, we’re heading there.” The policeman reported, he and his partner walked over to the shop.

“Yes, that looks exactly like him.” Nikolai nods.

The officer stands up to tell the others.

“Why is he not picking up?” Seokjin complained.

The Professor goes through the radio channel Seokjin talked about and starts to calm himself down. “Listen, I’m in front of Karina’s school, your daughter.”

Seokjin looks back to the radio, “Who’s on Channel Eight?” 

“And people from my organization are in Krostoma.” The Professor spoke in Russian, “they are watching your wife coming out of the supermarket.”

Nikolai looks at the radio, shocked.

“If the identikit that you are doing looks like me, you won’t ever see either of them again.”

“Who’s on Channel Eight?!” Seokjin asked, looking at Rodrigo.

Nikolai started to delete the Professor’s face as quickly as he could, scared.

“Hey! He’s erasing it!” The worker shouted. 

Rodrigo immediately pulled the identikit out of Nikolai’s hand, but he was too late.

“Who was that? What was he saying?” Seokjin asked as he pulled Nikolai in by the shirt.

“I didn’t hear anything,” Nikolai said, eyes shifting.

Seokjin runs over to the radio, “H-50. Control room. Where was that Russian message sent from?”

“From a Z-32.”

Seokjin immediately changes the channel, “Z-32, do you hear me?”

“This is Z-32 exiting the ironmongers. It was a false robbery call.” The policeman replied.

“Someone is in your car!” Seokjin informed.

The policemen ran to the car, but they were only greeted by nothing, “Control room, indeed, someone went in. But they escaped.”

“He’s probably near, he can’t go that far. Male, in his thirties, wears glasses…” Seokjin holds his breath, expectations high.

“No, no one’s here. We’re sorry.”

Seokjin drops the radio and closes his eyes.

* * *

“Sucre!” Cairo sings once again, “Sucre?” He walks towards the bathroom, Resita and Arad right behind him.

Sucre comes out of the bathroom.

“I was looking for you,” Cairo says.

“Well, here I am… what happened to your nose?” Sucre asked, genuinely concerned.

“The thing is, my face is constantly on the news due to a false report. Do you know what they said about me?” Cairo’s eyes lit up.

Sucre shakes his head.

“That I’m a thief, and get this, I understand that. But then they say that I like prostitutes, that I’m a pimp, that I sell kids. And all of that because of a fucking button. A button from my jacket that you wore and left behind in the car back in Toledo.”

Sucre looks at Resita and Arad, patiently waiting.

“And I’m pretty sure, I’ve never been in that car… Do you know what that means?”

“No, I don’t.” Sucre steps back into the bathroom.

“Yeah you do.” Cairo nods, following him in.

“No.” Sucre blocks him.

“You just fucked up my life.” Cairo breathes in.

“Cairo!” Citadel runs, Arad points a gun at her, she raises her hands up.

“Look, I’m sorry I didn’t see the button. I can give you ten million from my share of the money to call it even.”

Cairo’s expression doesn’t change.

Sucre sighs, “fifteen million.”

“Cairo, that’s fifteen million just call it quits,” Citadel said.

“For a fucking button?” Cairo asked.

“For a fucking button.” Sucre clenches his jaw.

“What’s wrong?” Cairo asked, looking inside the bathroom.

“Nothing.”

Cairo backs off and goes outside, Sucre blocking him from going any further.

“It’s pretty funny when I was thinking of shooting you on like… on the feet to compensate. But now I just feel like I should shoot you in the head.” 

All of them hear the toilet flush. Citadel widens her eyes along with Resita and Arad.

Sucre gulps, “Cairo.” He whispers.

“Shh,” Cairo says, slowly walking inside.

Sucre shakes his head, looking at Citadel for support, she can’t do anything.

  
  


“Cabenuva is a long-acting injectable, it’s custom made. It’s a treatment for a degenerative disease” Rodrigo coughs.

“What disease?”

“HIV/AIDS, he has it and it’s still an experimental medication. They were able to change the outcome of Taehyung’s disease from being lethal to a controllable one. But if he’s not able to access any kind of medication, he’ll be dead in less than who knows.”

“Then that man has nothing to lose,” Seokjin says.

  
  


Cairo opens the first stall in the bathroom, Citadel behind Sucre, worried.

Sucre gets ready to fire as he holds his gun, but doesn’t draw it.

Cairo approaches the second stall, it has the analogue wire and closes it, he walks towards the third door.

“Cairo, it’s not necessary—” Sucre comes in.

Cairo puts his hand out, making him stop. He traces his finger on the door, then knocks.

“Sucre?” Yoongi asked.

Sucre closes his eyes.

Citadel comes in and shakes her head at Cairo.

“Sucre? Is that you?”

Sucre gets his gun ready.

Cairo slowly opens the door, and sees Yoongi standing in front of the toilet. The two look at each other, Yoongi’s breath hitching. 

“I told you to kill him on Friday.” Cairo smiles at Sucre, “today is Sunday, are you Jesus? Coming back to life after two days? Praise the Lord.” 

Sucre adjusts his hold.

“I’m sorry, Yoongi. If you still need to use the toilet, I’ll give you back your privacy.” Cairo says and closes the door.

The Professor comes back to the warehouse and immediately calls Cairo.

“You know, Sucre, when I saw him lying on the floor, dead, I felt something was wrong,” Cairo walks over to the sink and wipes his nose.

Resita and Arad walk in pointing their guns to Sucre and Citadel.

“I told you to kill him because he ruined our plan, our _ team’s _ plan, he almost put us in danger. And with that, the button... your ineptitude has put my face in the news. And for sure, you have definitely spoiled any chance of a future for me. So now I wonder, which one hurts the most?” Cairo draws his gun to Sucre.

Citadel points her gun to Cairo, “are you fucking kidding me, Cairo. This isn’t a Tarantino film. Put your gun down. Now.”

Cairo looks at her, his gun still pointing at Sucre.

“Put the gun down, Cairo.” She orders.

“No, Citadel put your gun down.” Sucre says, still looking at Cairo, “we’re going to talk this out.” He slowly puts Citadel’s hand down, he suddenly steals her gun and uses it to point at Resita and Cairo.

Citadel puts her hand up to Resita, Sucre points the other gun to Arad.

“Whose head are you going to blow first, huh, Cairo?”

“Hey! Everyone put your fucking guns down! Resita tell that to your cousin.” Citadel says, trying to calm everyone down.

Resita translates for Arad, but neither of them put their gun down.

“I’m tired of your fucking orders, your fucking speeches, all this theatre bullshit. You wanna know which one hurts more?!” Sucre shouts pointing his gun to Cairo’s chest.

Cairo gently shushes him, he slowly opens the door and points his gun at Yoongi, looking at him. “What hurts more Sucre?”

Sucre gulps nervously, with tears in his eyes, “the m-man that you and the Professor were talking about at the dinner table. The day before the robbery… J-Jungkook? _ Jungkook _knowing that you are doing this.”

Cairo widens his eyes and looks at Sucre.

“He wouldn’t like it, would he?” Sucre steps towards him, “I-Is that why he left you?”

“Don’t you dare come closer!” Cairo points his gun at him.

“Who is Jungkook, Cairo?” 

Cairo’s hand trembles, “Don’t you dare say his name.” His voice shakes, and returns his gun back to his holster, “Arad, Resita, put your gun down.” He hides his hand in his pocket, trying to stop it from shaking.

Jakarta runs to the bathroom with her gun, “What’s going on here?” She sees Yoongi and widens her eyes, “holy shit, he’s alive?”

Sucre gently grabs Yoongi’s arm and puts the smaller behind him, he returns Citadel’s gun.

“Okay. It’s over.” Citadel says, she makes Sucre put his gun back.

“Cairo, you need to come with me. The Professor is on the phone.” Jakarta says, looking at Yoongi.

“Hello?” Cairo asked, his hand stopped shaking.

“Where were you?” The Professor asked.

“A spiritual trip.” Cairo sighs.

“There’s something important you need to know, I put the button from your jacket in the Ibiza.”

Cairo looks at the security camera, his face blank.

“You killed a hostage, you stepped over the red line. This is me punishing you for what you’ve done.”

“You know, I think that’s unfair, hold on. I need to introduce you to somebody.” Cairo signals Resita to call Sucre in, Yoongi carried in his arms.

“Who are you?” Cairo asked, giving the phone to Yoongi.

“Min Yoongi.”

The Professor zooms the camera in.

“And how are you?” 

“Fine.”

“And you’re alive?”

“I-I’m alive.”

Cairo nods and Sucre walks towards the others. “Now do you understand why I think you’re unfair? It never happened.”

“I admire your cynicism, but that man is alive and it’s not because of you. You _ still _ ordered Sucre to kill him, _ he _decided not to. I can’t undo what I did.” The Professor says.

“Does he know?” Cairo asked in a hushed voice, looking at the camera.

“Who?”

“_Him _.” Cairo gulps.

“I don’t know, I haven't heard from him for five years. _ Focus _, Cairo. The plan.”

Cairo turns his head to look at the others, they were busy with Yoongi. He takes a second to gather himself, “What are we doing now?”

“Well, we can proceed to Plan Valencia.” The Professor hangs up the phone.

Cairo takes a deep breath and turns around to get his rifle, “Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time to activate Plan Valencia.” He puts the magazine in, “now.”

Resita and Jakarta look at each other, smiling.

The two get ready to aim, hands on the trigger.

“Fire!” Cairo orders.

Resita and Jakarta started to shoot, causing a commotion.

Hostages started to scream.

“What the hell is that?” Seokjin asked, hearing the screams that are coming out of the building.

Cairo joined the two and started to shoot.

“Its bursts from M-16s. Turn up the reception, people are screaming.” Miguel orders.

Ariadna, along with the other hostages hug each other for comfort, hearing their other companions scream in terror.

“Scream louder! Come on! Is that the best you can do?! Put more passion into it! Let’s go!” Citadel encourages the hoard of hostages screaming, their hands covering their ears.

They watch as Cairo, Jakarta, and Resita shoot the barrels. They continue doing this for a few seconds more and Citadel twirls as she raises her hand to a stop, the three shooters stopping as well.

“Good job everyone!” Citadel praises the women.

“I spoke to the scientific lab and ballistics. I sent out the recordings and they say they have at least three M-16s,” Rodrigo reports.

“How many bullets?” Seokjin asks.

“A hundred and fifty approximately, five or six magazines,” Miguel says.

“It’s a fucking massacre,” Rodrigo says, worried.

“It’s not an execution, it’s a distraction. Put me through the Professor.” Seokjin orders.

The Professor was listening to jazz music when his phone rang, he answered immediately.

“What the fuck are you doing? What have you done?” Seokjin asked harshly.

The Professor’s eyes widened, raising his hands from his origami paper. “W-What? No greeting?”

“Good evening. What the fuck are you doing?” Seokjin repeated, “last time we talked, you put my name in a bad light to the public, and now we hear a lot of people screaming from the inside. Are you insane?!”

“Inspector, the truth is… I don’t recognize you right now, you’re an intelligent man. We have carried out this negotiation with nothing but respect, professionally and personally, and dare I say even with some affection from my side… how about I hang up and we can start again.” He ends the call, smiling.

“Fucking bastard.” Seokjin mutters. He takes a deep breath and takes his jacket off, he sits down and loosens his tie, he closes his eyes, “put me through.”

The phone rings once again and the Professor picks up, he pauses his jazz music.

“Good evening, Professor.” Seokjin bows his head slightly.

“Good evening.” The Professor stands up and bows.

“You see, I was thinking and a thought crossed my mind, what kind of music does this man listen to when he’s in the shower.” Seokjin smiles.

“Well, the Greek Syrtaki dance gives me energy.”

“That’s nice, are you by any chance of Greek ancestry?” Seokjin looks at Rodrigo.

The Professor scoffs, “No. I’m very far from that.” He puts a piece inside the model he made of the Fábrica.

“Professor, if it’s alright with you, would you mind telling me what those shots were about?”

“Well, of course. You see, we have been testing some guns we thought we had that got wet, but they work just fine. Thank you for asking.” He smiled.

“Your welcome, it’s a very plausible explanation, but another possibility is that you are lying and you did an open fire towards the hostages.” Seokjin raised his eyebrows.

“Yes, that would be another possibility.” The Professor agrees, “I guess it’s up to you to be optimistic or not.”

“Maybe I can ask you another question, you wouldn’t mind right?” His voice is bright.

“Inspector, I’m very sorry, but I’m a bad dancer.”

“Excuse me?”

“The Syrtaki, I’m very bad at it, the way your tone changed made me think you wanted to ask me out.”

Seokjin rolled his eyes, “No, I was thinking about how I want proofs of life for each hostage, recorded today in front of a television set broadcasting live. It’s not negotiable, I’m afraid.”

The Professor nods, “I understand.”

“You have an hour to send them over.” Seokjin hangs up the phone.

The Professor walks towards the phone, he calls the team.

“Yes?”

“Prepare the proofs of life.”


	10. CHESS

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seokjin enters the Fábrica to ascertain that all of the hostages are still alive and well. Citadel gives Lisa advice.

“Hurry up,” Citadel says as she waits outside of the bathroom, keeping the door open.

Calvin walks inside along with several students. Lisa comes out of the stall and approaches the sink to wash her hands.

“There’s no butler to wash your hands for you, but no fear, you’re getting released soon. While us students are staying here.” A student sarcastically said with a smile.

Lisa glares at them.

“Are you fucking proud of yourself?”

SUNDAY 4:40 PM

“Who do you think you are?” The student asked as a group formed around Lisa.

“Look where money could get you.” A student smears toothpaste on Lisa’s jumpsuit.

“Just because she’s the ambassador’s daughter she thinks she's more important than all of us, huh?”

“Daddy’s calling her home, that’s why.”

“The people who saw her nudes want her out.” Calvin taunted her.

54TH HOUR OF THE ROBBERY

Lisa slaps him.

“Hey! Hey! Calm down!” A girl said, “we’re only here because of you.” She pushes Lisa.

“Isn’t it enough for you to screw eight people over?”

“Hey!” Citadel bangs her gun at the door.

The students scattered away from Lisa.

“Is this what you brats learn in private schools?” Citadel walks over to them, Resita walking towards the door.

Lisa looks at Citadel as she grips the sink behind her.

“You guys are so brave to be attacking the poor girl by herself… especially you, Captain.” Citadel nods at Calvin, “the balls on this kid...” she shakes her head and looks at Resita, smiling. She looks back at Calvin, “aren’t you the one who took the picture? Don’t make me tell her dad it was you.” Citadel whispers, she grabs his arm and pushes him to Resita, “take these brats out, starting with him.”

“Come on, blondie,” Resita says, smacking Calvin at the back.

The students leave one by one except for Lisa.

“Are you okay?” Citadel asks.

Lisa nods, looking at her dirty uniform, “do you have another?”

Citadel scoffs, “just take it off and start rubbing.” She puts her gun on top of the sink, “it’s been like fifty hours… going up and down the stairs, printing money, I really need a damn shower.” She complains.

Lisa takes off her jumpsuit and starts to wash the toothpaste off.

Citadel starts to wash her face, “do you know how much potential you have?” She asks, “it’s like the ones in American movies, she takes off her glasses, and then all of a sudden everyone liked her.”

“I don’t wear glasses though,” Lisa says.

“Well, I can see that, but you can do something else, no?”

“I can dance…” 

“Okay, cool. What kind of dance?”

Lisa looks down, “I did classical and contemporary ballet.”

Citadel nods, not as impressed, “is there something else you can do?” She starts to wipe her face with a towel.

“Hunting,” Lisa says, looking at her.

“Hunting?” Citadel was taken aback, her eyebrows pointing down, “with guns?”

Lisa nods.

“Well, that’s great. You need to show those suckers that side of you, show them you aren’t scared. You have to wait patiently, then you have it in your sight.” Citadel walks towards her with her gun, she stops behind Lisa, pointing it at the mirror.

Lisa looks at her from the mirror, curious.

“Then you say something along the lines of ‘my name is Lisa Manoban, and I’m a fucking badass,’ boom.” Citadel pretends to shoot her gun.

Lisa smiles.

“Now you say it,” Citadel says, putting her gun in her holster.

Lisa makes a gun with her finger and points it at the mirror, “my name is Lisa Manoban and I’m a fucking badass.” She whispers.

Citadel rolled her eyes, “do it properly, believe it.”

“My name is Lisa Manoban and I’m a fucking badass!”

“What are you?”

“A fucking badass!”

“Boom.” Citadel grins.

* * *

Seokjin lightly taps a worker on her shoulder, “excuse me, I’m going to make a private phone call, can you lower the volume down and not record it?”

She nods and takes her headphones off, doing as she was told.

Seokjin scrolls through his cellphone and sees Salva’s number, he calls from the telephone.

The Professor was in the middle of doing sit-ups when he heard his phone ring, he grabs a towel and walks towards his phone, “hello?”

“H-Hi Salva, it’s Seokjin…” Seokjin smiled, Rodrigo immediately looks at him.

The Professor continues to pant, wiping his sweat off, “h-hello.”

Seokjin raises his eyebrows, “s-sorry, did I call at a bad time?” 

Rodrigo walks away.

“No! No! Not at all, I was just working out.” He looks at the sit-up bench.

“Oh, y-you were working out?”

The Professor nods, but immediately realizes Seokjin can’t see him, “yes,” he chuckled, “I nodded just now, but I realized you’re not in front of me.”

“Well, you will see me soon… we’re still eating later, right?” Seokjin bites his lip.

The Professor widened his eyes, he forgot, “well honestly, I haven’t picked a place yet because each time I read an online review of a restaurant, I feel more inclined to just go back to our usual place.”

Seokjin blushes, “o-our place, huh? Well, I’m okay with that, does nine PM work out for you?”

The Professor bites his lip, “yes, nine PM sounds good.”

“Okay, I’ll see you soon?”

“I’ll see you soon.” The Professor smiles.

Seokjin hangs up and collects himself, Rodrigo approaches him, “Jin, I have more info about Cabenuva.”

“Attention! I’d like everyone to go outside for a moment, this would take no longer than five minutes.” Seokjin orders, the workers start going outside.

“Don’t you think you’re becoming a little bit paranoid?” Rodrigo asked.

“Don’t I have to remind you that there is a mole?”

“But a lot of people come in and out of the tent all the time… the Metropolitan police, paramedics, even that friend of yours, Salva.”

The Professor rolls his eyes.

“What do you have?” Seokjin ignores the comment, pointing at the folder.

“So, as I said before, Cabenuva is an injectable used to treat HIV/AIDS, it lasts longer than using pills, it’s an alternative. It’s administered intravenously, it’s made to order so they know where the patients live.” Rodrigo says, showing all the papers.

“I guess all the pharmacies will always place the same order for the same sick people,” Seokjin says.

“Exactly, but there has been an unusual demand in Toledo.”

The Professor sighs.

“These last five months,” Rodrigo points to a report, “the distributor dispatched enough medicine to treat forty people.”

“But there’s no forty people who are sick in Toledo.”

Rodrigo nods, “there’s only three in the whole of Castilla-La Mancha.”

“Where are those pharmacies?” 

The Professor pulls up a map of Spain on his computer.

“There’s one around Illescas, thirty-five kilometres away.” Rodrigo shows a map, “and over here, in Palomeque, on October eighteenth.”

“Just three days before they went inside the Fábrica.” Seokjin grits his teeth.

“Ten packages of the medicine were purchased,” Rodrigo says.

“Get authorization from Judge Andrade and go to the pharmacy, alone. Get all of the lists of purchases, see if you can find something.” Seokjin orders.

The Professor adjusts his glasses, thinking of a plan.

“Rodrigo, don’t tell anyone about this,” Seokjin says, Rodrigo nods and grabs his coat and the files.

Seokjin grabs his pager to inform everyone to go in, but Rodrigo stops him.

“Jin, I don’t want you to think that because of what I said to you yesterday… that my wife and I aren’t good. This morning actually… we made love.” Rodrigo coughed.

Seokjin nods, awkwardly.

The Professor scoffs, “why is he saying this.” He murmured.

Seokjin looks at his pager, “you all can come in now.” 

Rodrigo looks at him once more and leaves.

The workers slowly piled inside.

* * *

“Seungri, I have a very big surprise for you.” Resita closes the door and smiles, they were alone in a room.

Seung Hyun gulps, “you see, I want you to know that I’m not a homosexual. I-I respect you’re out there, the… the closet? I have a brother who is also homosexual, well, at least that’s what the family thinks. He does yoga.”

Resita looks at him, not phased. He turns around and opens the door, letting Yoongi in while holding Sucre’s hand for support.

Seung Hyun brings his hand to his mouth, shocked.

“This is the surprise I was telling you about,” Resita says.

Yoongi lets go of Sucre’s hand walking towards Seung Hyun.

Sucre watches him, “Resita, they need to talk.” He says, defeated.

“Y-Yoongi,” Seung Hyun whispers, tears in his eyes, he kisses him on the lips, however, Yoongi didn’t kiss him back. Seung Hyun hugs him, “I thought they killed you, I thought he killed you.”

Yoongi looks at him, staying silent.

“I love you so much.” Seung Hyun starts kissing his neck.

Yoongi closes his eyes, feeling disgusted.

Seung Hyun starts to glide his hand down to Yoongi’s lower back, “you don’t know what you do to me.”

* * *

The workers are starting to get video recordings of the hostages in the Fábrica.

“Play that one,” Seokjin points to Ariadna.

“My name is Ariadna Cascales, and I’m fine. We have been treated well by the kidnappers, those in need of medical attention are put in a different room, including me. I have no complaints. Please tell my family I miss them, thank you.” 

“The IC people have analysed the video recording, it seems they have used an editing programme.” Miguel said.

“So you’re telling me that in forty minutes they had enough time to use special effects?” Seokjin asked, looking at him.

“We think they overlaid the footage of the news report onto old footage. They also lowered the quality to 240 and it’s been done on purpose. It’s not acceptable enough for a proof of life.”

“The shooting in the Fábrica is hitting the headlines from every news report in this country. The press demands at least a press note.” Hugo says, “and the President wants us to go in.” 

“I need more time.” Seokjin looks at him.

“And I need a facelift, but they want us to go in  _ now _ .”

“Give me two hours, if I still don’t have proofs of life, we go in.”

The Professor’s telephone rings, he answers quickly.

“Manipulating the video is not an intelligent move coming from you, Professor,” Seokjin says.

“Please, Inspector, we can’t minimize our relationships to these blunt messages and insults without a ‘How are you? How was your day?’ You go straight to the point, don’t tell me you’re like that.”

“Well, I don’t have time for nonsense right now.”

“Fifteen seconds will not change our lives, Inspector.” The Professor pauses, “let’s say you meet someone then you sleep with them, are you one of those people who get up and leave in the middle of the night without knowing their name? Is that okay with you?”

Seokjin looks at the others, “actually, I’m okay with doing that but I don’t have time, do I?”

“Hm, alright. I don’t want to waste your time. What do you want again, handsome?”

“Your proofs of life serve no value to us, we will have to go in. It’s up to you if you want to do it peacefully or not.” Seokjin says.

“Let’s see if I get this right, you’re asking me if I’d let you come in.” The Professor asks, looking at the Fábrica model he made.

“Either we come in with tanks and gas, or you and I get a cup of coffee while you show me that all hostages are alive.” Seokjin puts a hand out to Rodrigo who was about to argue.

“I would be delighted to invite you in.” The Professor smiles, and he hangs up.

Rodrigo holds Seokjin’s arm, “Jin! I can’t let you go in there alone.”

“I give the orders here, not you.” Seokjin argues, “listen, there’s more work out there than in here, we need to know if they’re alive.” He looks at everyone else, “Ladies and Gentlemen, I’m going in.”

* * *

The gates have opened for Seokjin, as he went inside he saw Cairo, Jakarta, and Accra with no mask on, the couple aiming their gun at Seokjin. Behind them, two people with masks on, doing the same.

“Put your arms up, please,” Cairo says, his face calm.

Seokjin puts his arms up, a notebook in his hand.

Jakarta frisks him.

“Where’s the Professor?” Seokjin asked, looking at the two with masks.

“He asked me to excuse him, but due to discretion reasons, he can’t be exposed. Bear in mind that his face is not hitting the headlines, as ours are.” Cairo smiles respectfully.

“He has nothing,” Jakarta announces.

“Accra.” Cairo looks at him, the younger turns his metal detector on and scans Seokjin.

Hugo and Miguel hear this and look at each other.

It started to beep a lot near Seokjin’s hips.

“Inspector, they said that the police aren’t dumb, but sometimes they do look like it.” Cairo says, “do you really think you could sneak a microphone in?”

“Do you really think my people wouldn’t make sure I was safe?” Seokjin retorts.

“Would you like to take the microphone off for us?” 

Seokjin unzipped his pants to get the microphone out and tossed it to Cairo.

Cairo gives it to Accra, “follow me, please.” Cairo smiles at Seokjin and they walk to the main hall.

Accra disassembles the mic and pauses.

_ At that moment, Accra freezes. _

Seokjin gives Accra a quick glance and follows Cairo.

_ Written on the mic, Kai, as his mom called him as a child. A nickname that hits close to home. The nickname his mom used all the time, however, when he got involved with crime instead of video consoles, she stopped. The nickname died along with her innocent son who is now seen as a criminal on TV. _

* * *

“Judge Andrade, it’s Detective Rodrigo here from the robbery with hostages in the Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre. I’m calling you because we need a search and seizure warrant of a pharmacy in Toledo.” Rodrigo said, sitting at the bar in the diner, not noticing the Professor walking in, “we are following one of the leads.” Rodrigo sees the Professor walk past him.

The Professor sits down a few seats to Rodrigo’s left, watching the news.

“We think that someone is passing the information from outside, I would ask you for your absolute discretion, please. Thank you, goodbye.” Rodrigo hangs up, he looks at the Professor, “so… Jin’s not here.”

“Oh, well, yeah. I just came to have something to drink.” The Professor smiled, “so, how’s the robbery going? Because I heard that there was some shooting and it seems that it will go on for a few more days.”

“No, no. It’s actually about to end.” Rodrigo says, drinking his coffee.

“Oh really?” The Professor raises his brows, “that's good. I can’t even begin to imagine how hard it is for those hostages to stay there for a few more days, let alone you guys.”

Rodrigo nods, “do you work close by?”

“Yes, actually just around the corner.” 

Rodrigo hummed, “well, Jin told me you were unemployed.” He shrugged.

The Professor adjusts his glasses, “I actually lost my job two months ago, I’m trying to run my own small business.”

“An entrepreneur on the rise?”

The Professor smiled, “yes, actually. Yes.”

“What kind of business?”

The Professor pauses, “Cider. Organic cider.” He nods.

“No way, I’ll have you know my mom is from Oviedo.”

The Professor raises his eyebrows, “no way, if I make it, I might even go over there.”

“Well, I’d like to taste it.” Rodrigo gives him a small smile.

“One day I’ll give you a bottle.” 

Rodrigo looks at him once more before turning his head, his smile drops.

* * *

Seokjin looks around the main hall, he is sitting on a chair and next to him is an empty seat, for Cairo. 

“The Professor told me to make you coffee.” Cairo smiled, holding a cup. “I don’t know how you like it, so I hope decaf is okay.”

Seokjin looks at him and nods, taking the cup from him.

“Should we start?” Cairo asked, sitting next to him.

“Yes.”

“Let’s go!” Cairo shouts, Jakarta and Accra bringing Seung Hyun down the stairs. “Well, here we have Seung Hyun Lee, CEO of the Fábrica.”

“Are you showing me the hostages one by one?” Seokjin opened his notebook.

“Well yeah, so you won’t lose track of them.”

Seung Hyun slowly walks up to them.

“Well, Seung Hyun, this man right here is Inspector Kim. The man who ordered the snipers to shoot you.” Cairo introduced.

“You don’t play nice do you?” Seokjin whispered to Cairo.

“The Professor told me not to.” Cairo gives him a small smile.

“How are you, Seung Hyun?” Seokjin asked, looking at him.

“I’ve seen better days.” He nods.

“I’d like to say sorry on behalf of the police, and my own, of course. It was a terrible mistake and I hope you get better soon.” Seokjin says.

Accra brings Seung Hyun back to the line of hostages upstairs, he goes near the chaperone.

“I have scissors.” She says and hands them to Seung Hyun quickly, “I grabbed them because I was scared I don’t want them anymore.”

“No, what the fuck are you doing, don’t give it to me!” Seung Hyun whispered harshly.

“Take it or I blame it on you!”

“Seungri, you’re coming with me,” Resita says, walking towards them.

Seung Hyun grabs the scissors and quickly shoves it in his pocket.

_ One after the other, the hostages talked to the Inspector the way children queue up to talk with Santa at the shopping centre. _

“Have they treated you well?”

“No complaints,” Escamilla replied.

“Were you able to sleep?”

“Yes, I’ve rested peacefully.” The chaperone nods.

“You know that woman reminded me of my aunt,” Cairo pouts, “the difference is my aunt is dead.” 

Seokjin looks at Cairo as if he’s done with him, several minutes have passed and Cairo will throw little comments around.

“You know the Professor sounds like he really likes you,” Cairo whispers as the two of them waited for the other hostage, “maybe we could be friends by the end of this.” He smiles.

Seokjin looks at him and goes back to his empty coffee cup.

“Did you finish your coffee?” Cairo asked.

Seokjin nods and writes notes down.

“Oh! This one, he’s extremely quiet.” Cairo says as he watches Accra come down with Yoongi.

“Don’t say  _ anything _ about the gunshot, okay?” Accra whispers secretly.

“What’s your name?” Seokjin asked.

“Yoongi Min.”

“How are you?”

“I’m alright, I just want this to be done as soon as possible. I have a baby on the way.”

Seokjin squints, “are you the one who asked for adoption papers?”

“Yes. That’s me.” Yoongi nods, “I don’t know whether I’ll get out of here in time for my daughter.”

“Is your girlfriend at the hospital right now?” 

“The mom is in the hospital. I’m hoping I can get out by the time of my daughter’s birth. I want to get full custody because the mom doesn’t want her.” Yoongi says.

Seokjin stands up, Jakarta looks at him.

“No matter how tough things get, just know that you’ll get out of here soon, I’ll make sure of that.” Seokjin nods.

Yoongi feels blood carefully seeping through his jumpsuit, he hides it and looks at Cairo.

“I’ll assure you that we will take good care of the father-to-be, but right now he needs to rest,” Cairo says standing next to Seokjin, “bring in the next one, please.”

Yoongi nods to Cairo and lets Accra guide him back upstairs.

Seokjin sits back down and watches Yoongi from the back, knowing exactly what he feels.

  
  


Yoongi was taken into the room where Seung Hyun and a few other hostages were waiting.

“Yoongi! Were you also taken to talk with the Inspector?” Seung Hyun stands up.

“Yeah, they asked me if I was okay and then I left,” Yoongi said, not looking at him, he slowly sits down as he touches his thigh.

Seung Hyun looks at Lisa, and runs to her, “listen to me carefully, only you can get us out, you have to disappear before they get to you. Once everything goes wrong, the police will come in, everyone will come in, and they will save us all. There’s a hidden safety box, you need to hide in there.” He says, quickly.

“I’m not going to do that,” Lisa says, leaning away from him.

“Listen, you’re their safe conduct, if you don’t show up at the proofs of life, they have no choice but to come for you. Everyone is safe, I’m safe. The code is twenty-nine, seventeen, fifty-two, thirty-two. Can you do it?”

“T-twenty-nine, seven…” Lisa tries to remember.

“Twenty-nine, seventeen, fifty-two, thirty-two!” Seung Hyun whispers harshly.

“T-twenty…”

“Seung Hyun! Leave her alone! Stop manipulating people. We don’t stand a chance.” Yoongi says.

Seung Hyun crawls towards him, “I have scissors, if they attack you, attack back!”

“No! I don’t want them!” Yoongi pushes the scissors away.

“Listen to m—”

The door opens and Seung Hyun hides the scissors. 

Sucre looks at Seung Hyun with disgust, he walks to Yoongi and kneels down, “they told me your wound opened up?”

“I tried not to limp so the Inspector wouldn’t notice. One of the stitches came out I think.” Yoongi looks at him.

“Is it okay if I take a look?” Sucre gives Yoongi space.

Yoongi nods.

Sucre looks at him and raises an eyebrow.

“Y-Yes, you can look.”

“Okay,” Sucre says and sets the medical kit down.

Yoongi unzips his jumpsuit and slowly takes the top half off.

“Does he have to be undressed?” Seung Hyun asks, glaring at Sucre.

“How do you expect him to get it if I don’t?” Yoongi replied sarcastically.

Sucre looks at Seung Hyun and helps Yoongi.

Seung Hyun’s hand started to shake, scissors in his grip.

  
  


“I’m starting to get tired of your so-called jokes, Taehyung. They aren’t even funny.” Seokjin looks at him disappointed.

“Your face is funny.” Cairo looks at him.

“The Professor says I have a handsome face,” Seokjin says.

Cairo raises his eyebrows, “really now?”

Seokjin nods, “where are the other hostages? Especially Lisa Manoban.”

“Don’t be impatient, Inspector. They’re coming.” Cairo stands up from his chair and walks towards Jakarta, “where are the dogs?”

“Resita is taking them out of their cage,” Jakarta replies.

_ In that silence, Seokjin can hear the machines working at full capacity making banknotes and he realized we had deceived him. That the shooting had been a scam and that going into the museum had only contributed to give us two more hours during which he had been caught off-guard. We had made sixteen more million euros. _

_ The Professor was right, in this heist, time was precious. _

** _“In our first lesson I told you that, somehow, it won’t be stealing.” The Professor says in front of the class, “we won’t be stealing anything that belongs to other people, right?” _ **

** _The criminals nodded._ **

** _“Well, I lied, because there is something that we’ll be stealing… time. We’ll be stealing the police’s time. We will slowly put cheese on the traps, they’ll take the bait and we’ll lead them to a dead end. Because of that, they can't focus on their main goal, which is to get us all out of there. And when we have their time and their attention, we only have to prolong it. Stretch it like chewing gum.” He says, walking away from his desk. “Meanwhile the machines are working relentlessly, but we shouldn’t underestimate them, at some point they’ll realize that all of this is a game. But that wouldn’t matter because they must solve a robbery with hostages avoiding any casualties. And by the time the game ends, we’re gone.” The Professor shrugged._ **

_ But that wasn’t easy, perhaps with another inspector in charge, but Seokjin is a single parent in the middle of a divorce, a man who had coped with his wife’s abuse. And there, next upon Cairo, he felt comfortable, like a teacher next to his rebellious students. And he wasn’t going to stand idly while Cairo was playing him for a fool. _

* * *

“I applied some skin closure strips so you don’t need to be stitched up again,” Sucre explains, still examining Yoongi’s thigh.

“Thank you.” Yoongi gives Sucre a genuine smile for the first time.

Sucre nods, smiling back.

“So, you’re a surgeon now? You probably can’t even spell surgeon, knowing you're just a damn thief with nothing going on in his life.” Seung Hyun spat.

Yoongi glares at him, “Seung Hyun, just stop.”

“Did you at least wash your hands?” 

“Of course I did Seungri, to punch you smelling of  _ Eau de fuck yourself _ .” Sucre’s smile drops.

“C-Can I go back to my place? I’m feeling dizzy.” Yoongi says as he tugs on Sucre’s jumpsuit.

“Sure, do you want me to carry you?” 

Yoongi nods.

“Alright, carry the kit for me.” Sucre hands the medical kit to Yoongi and carefully carries him away, closing the door with his foot.

Seung Hyun crawls back to Lisa, “you have to go, do you want to get beaten up by your classmates and die here? They talk shit about you all the time, go and prove them wrong. Go fucking hide. You don’t want to be called a loser all your life, do you? You can be a hero right now if you follow my plan.”

  
  


“Do you have any complaints?”

“I-I do have one complaint.” The hostage said nervously.

Cairo immediately stops eating his chips.

“T-They haven’t served us pizza in a while.”

Seokjin looks at the hostage, “oh.” 

“Maybe the Inspector might do something about that,” Cairo says looking at Seokjin.

Resita takes the hostage away.

“I’ve seen every hostage except Lisa Manoban, where is she?” Seokjin asked, standing up.

“And what if we don’t show her?” Jakarta asked walking towards her.

“Hey, everyone calm down. Seokjin, relax and eat with me. We are on a first-name basis, no?” Cairo asked.

“You know ever since I came here, I only heard you say stupid stuff,” Seokjin said looking at him.

Jakarta and Accra smiled.

“I expected more coming from a man who only has about, I don’t know, seven months to live?” 

“What did you say?” Accra asked.

“What the hell is going on?” Jakarta looked at Seokjin, confused.

“He has HIV/AIDS, about fifty percent of patients develop tremors. It translates into spasms, trembling of hands… Haven’t you noticed that it’s becoming more and more difficult to hold your gun, Taehyung?”

Cairo holds his blank stare to the ground, he turns around and walks away, he hides his trembling hand in his pocket.

Jakarta looks at Seokjin, Accra still confused.

“Well? I thought you guys were friends? Shouldn’t you know that by now?” Seokjin asked, innocently.

Jakarta looks at him, pissed.

Accra crosses his arms, “we all agreed on no personal information.”

“I want to see Lisa Manoban. Now.” 

  
  


As Citadel pulls Lisa by the arm to go downstairs, the younger stopped her.

“May I go to the bathroom first, please?” Lisa begged.

Citadel sighs, “hurry.”

Ariadna sees Cairo walk inside the room and she raises her hand, “Mister Cairo, may I talk to you in private, please?”

Cairo looks at her and nods, they go to another room.

“I-I’ve been thinking that maybe I could help you with some tasks.”

“And what tasks will you help me with?” Cairo asks, sitting down at the desk.

“Anything, from cooking or building a tunnel...” Ariadna says, walking closer to him, biting her lip.

Cairo raises an eyebrow, “we already have people doing a lot of jobs, I have nothing for you.”

Ariadna’s eyes start to water, “last night you took Silvia away and we heard gunshots. I-I can’t take it anymore I have to get out, I don’t want to be in that room anymore.”

“Everyone has that feeling, all I know is I’m not making it out of here alive.” Cairo says, “I’m not going to lie to you, I actually feel worried.” He gulps, looking at the window.

“I think I can help you with that.” Ariadna comes closer to Cairo, slowly tracing circles on his hand and holding it, she leans in for a kiss.

  
  


“You know when I was your age, I also thought I could conquer the world, that I’d never regret anything,” Seokjin says, his hands to his back as he walks around.

Jakarta looks at him carefully, “but one day you come to a sudden stop.” She says.

“Yes, and it’s better that you come to a sudden stop and get your act together because before you know it you’ve been fired from your work and kicked out of your apartment,” Seokjin says, looking at her.

“You’ve done research, huh? The problem is that in my case I came to a sudden stop because of a gunshot, specifically the one that went through my boyfriend’s heart.” Jakarta says walking towards Seokjin, “get out of here and tell everyone that they can come in and get me, even when it comes down to a shooting.” 

“Units in alert for intervention, Sir.”

“What’s taking them so long?!” Hugo slammed the desk, impatient.

_ For Ariadna, trying to get Cairo to have sex with her was the most certain way to save her life. But what she didn’t know is that she wasn’t in danger that was as desperate as the little lamb’s attempt to escape. _

Lisa waits for a few seconds inside the stall, she takes a deep breath and started to crawl on the floor, one stall to the next, going through the small spaces in between sections

Citadel impatiently waits outside the stall Lisa was in.

_ She had the fucking nerve to try and run away from Citadel, perhaps that’s what desperation gives, the nerve. _

Lisa gets to the stall near the door and starts to run.

“Lisa!” Citadel runs after her.

The Professor sees this and starts to switch from one security camera to the next, keeping track of Lisa. He spots her going inside of the safe, camera ten. He picks up the phone but the doorbell starts to ring. He looks through his security camera to see who’s outside, Rodrigo. 

“Fucking damn it.” The Professor muttered, he ended the call.

“What the fuck are you doing.” Cairo pushes her away from him.

“I j-just…” Ariadna blinked rapidly, her palms started to sweat.

“Get out,” Cairo says sternly.

Ariadna doesn’t move, she stands still looking at him.

“Fucking get out, now.” Cairo opens the door.

“I’m so-sorry.”

“OUT!!!” Cairo shouts as he pushes her out and slams the door to her face.

The Professor slowly opens the gate and peeks his head outside.

“Salva! Hello.” Rodrigo greets and shakes his hand, “ you see, I was in the neighborhood and I saw you come in here and I was like, ‘Is that Salva?’ So I decided to stop by. I hope you don’t mind. May I come in?”

The Professor looks inside, “now? It’s messy, but sure, of course.” He makes way for Rodrigo to come in.

Rodrigo looks around, several barrels with spigots, several apples in baskets, and several bottles on shelves, he spots a coffee cup and a spoon on the sink, “Hey, can I try your cider?”

“Oh, of course.” The Professor turns around and grabs a bottle and pours some for Rodrigo to try, he fails to see the other secretly grab the spoon with a cloth.

“Here.” The Professor hands it to him, “keep in mind I’m still an amateur when it comes to this.”

Rodrigo hums, “it’s not that bad… so, how are things with Jin? You guys are seeing each other.”

“Well, we’ve talked sometimes and we will go on a date soon, I’m nervous actually. Seokjin is a very charismatic man and I’m… me.” The Professor chuckles.

“If you’re going to give him this cider, you better improve it first.”

“Thank you for the advice.”

Citadel walks to the main hall with her mask on and tells Accra what happened. The two quickly walk away.

“Jennie, without that microphone, they won’t know if I’m alive,” Seokjin says, warning her.

“Condor two and three, in position.”

“Nine minutes,” Hugo announces.

Rodrigo walks around the room, seeing a bunch of furniture with cloth covering them.

The Professor following behind, cautious.

“Jennie, I need to leave to avoid a massacre with or without proofs of life, do you understand?” Seokjin asks, standing up to leave.

Jakarta aims her rifle at him, “sit down.”

Seokjin turns around to look at her.

“Four minutes,” Hugo says.

“Do I have to make myself fucking clear or not? Sit down.” Jakarta said, irritated.

Seokjin slowly approaches the chair to sit down.

“This place has ten thousand square metres. Who knows where the fuck she is?” Citadel opens each door anxiously.

Accra does the same as he looks for Lisa.

Rodrigo’s phone rings, “excuse me.” Rodrigo said, looking the other way.

The Professor nods, looking at the telephone under the covers.

“I’m going to call the Professor, he probably knows where she is. Keep looking for her.” Accra says, going into Citadel’s office to call the older.

“It’s ready? Good. Did the judge sign it?” Rodrigo asked.

The Professor impatiently waits for Rodrigo to end the call.

“Alright, thank you,” Rodrigo says, he then looks at the Professor, “well, I have to go now.” He gives him a fake smile.

“Oh, of course.” The Professor leads him out, “do you want a bottle too?”

“Oh no thank you.”

The telephone started to ring. 

“Are you going to answer that?” Rodrigo looks at him.

“Oh, they can wait. Who uses landline nowadays?” The Professor gives him a smile.

Rodrigo walks out of the warehouse and the Professor locks the door immediately, his smile no longer present. He runs to the telephone and picks it up, “second floor, office seventeen, inside the safety box.”

Accra immediately runs to Citadel, mouthing the word, “office seventeen.”

Citadel opens the safe, which Lisa doesn’t close all the way.

Lisa looks at them both, her eyes red from crying.

“You stupid kid.” Citadel pulls her hair as she yanks her out of the safe.

Jakarta hears footsteps behind her and puts the rifle down, it was Accra pulling Lisa with Citadel behind them.

“Lisa…” Seokjin says, looking at her distressed appearance.

“Aren’t you in a hurry?” Jakarta asks him, “let’s get you out of here, Accra come with me.”

Accra and Jakarta escort Seokjin outside.

Citadel takes her mask off and glares at Lisa.

“Rodrigo, I found the fingerprint from the police car, there’s no match with any of the police officers. I even ran it through the database and no one matched it in the whole of Spain.” 

Rodrigo looks at the forensic worker, “by any chance can you do a check on this spoon if it matches?” He brings the spoon out from the Professor’s coffee cup.

The analyst looks at it, confused.

“When you get the results, call me. It doesn’t matter what time it is.”

They grabbed the spoon and left.

“Did you get that from the kidnapper’s cutlery?” A woman asked.

Rodrigo turns around and sees Seokjin’s ex-wife, Carla. “No, it came from somewhere else, a hunch to be discarded.”

“You know we can’t analyze things that have no seal and registration of origin,” Carla says, raising an eyebrow.

“It’s just a special favour, Carla.” Rodrigo turns around to leave.

“How’s Seokjin?”

Rodrigo stops.

“Is he moving on?”

Rodrigo ignores her and leaves the building.

Accra sits down and continues to look at the microphone that they took from Seokjin.

“Dear colleagues, after long consideration, I wanted to say sorry for not being completely honest with you,” Cairo says looking at his team in the staff room.

Sucre and Jakarta were smoking, paying attention to him. Citadel looks up at him.

“I have a degenerative disease,” Cairo says, looking down at the telephone.

Sucre looks at him, putting his cigarette down. 

“And I think I’m living on borrowed time, but… it’s not my intention for all of you to feel bad for me or to feel sorry,” Cairo goes through the cabinet and grabs a bottle of liquor, “let’s just celebrate.” He sets down five glasses and starts pouring everyone a drink. “Accra, do you want some?” He looked at the younger in the corner.

Accra looks up from the microphone and shakes his head.

“To death!” Cairo smiles, raising his drink up.

“Do you really want to cheers to that?” Sucre looks at him.

“And the plan… since it’s going very smoothly.” Cairo smiles at him.

Citadel passes the drink to Jakarta.

Accra leaves the room to go to the bathroom. He locks himself in a stall.

He was about to flush the microphone down but decided to inspect it further, he took it apart.

“Jongin Kim is the weakest link in the chain. That micro wouldn’t be undetected in any frisk, so I told the Science Unit to place a message inside.” Seokjin tells Hugo and Miguel.

“And how would you know if he sees the video?” Hugo asked.

Accra takes out a small monitor and puts the chip in.

“Hello son, we are in contact with a lawyer and he’s got you a collaboration deal with the authorities.” His father said, sitting next to him is his mother.

She pulls out the papers and shows it to the camera.

“Jongin turning himself in would mean that our plan is working,” Seokjin says, leaning back on his chair.

“We have also spoken to the police and say that if you turn yourself in and agree to collaborate in the investigation, the judge will give a reduced sentence. You’ll be in prison for less than a year.” His father continued.

“We are doing everything we can from here, please be safe, Kai.” His mother cried, “please think about it, you can still back out.”

Accra continues to watch as teardrops fall on the monitor.

* * *

“What time would you get home?” Rodrigo’s wife asks.

“I don’t know, you could eat dinner without me.” Rodrigo says, as he continues to drive, “I’m at Toledo right now, I’m about to go to a pharmacy in Palomeque… I got to go.” 

He slowly approaches the pharmacy, a bunch of workers outside in panic.

“Help us! We’ve been robbed!!!”

Rodrigo grabs his gun, “don’t worry, I’m part of the police.” He exits his car.

They both went inside the pharmacy as the lady led him to the office.

“He only wanted the lists of purchases without prescriptions, the accounts, the inventory, and the purchases book as well.” She said nervously.

Rodrigo looks at the cabinet, all of them empty as he hears a motorcycle outside. He sees a man dressed in black putting the helmet on.

_ Just like in chess, in order to win, you need to sacrifice one of your pieces. _

Rodrigo immediately runs out. 

The Professor calmly puts his glasses on, adjusting the helmet.

_ In this case, it was our Trojan horse. _

The Professor drives away leaving Rodrigo outside coughing from the dust.

_ The Professor had placed Rodrigo in an unpleasant situation when going to that pharmacy, a situation that would send him down to hell. _

“Jin, there was a guy that arrived at the pharmacy before me.” Rodrigo panted, “I-I don’t know how he got here. Only you and I know about it.”

He looked down and slowly realized something.

_ And with a heavy heart, when Rodrigo snooped around the hangar, the Professor decided to sacrifice him. _


	11. OUTWIT

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rodrigo and Seokjin question each other’s loyalties. Yoongi makes a move on Sucre. Accra is faces a difficult decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy holidays yall!!!

SUNDAY 7:02 PM

57TH HOUR OF THE ROBBERY

_ Do you know that moment you tie loose ends that you didn’t want to tie? It’s painful, isn’t it? You’re there with your long-time partner and you think: What a fucking bastard. _

“He got the record books, everything. I don’t even know how he got here.” Rodrigo says.

Seokjin looks behind him, Hugo talking about another solution to put an end to the whole case.

“We were the only two who knew about this…” He pauses, “I’m on my way there.” Rodrigo hangs up.

The two police cars came after the call.

_ You refuse to believe it, but you know someone betrayed you. Rodrigo knows it’s not him. _

Seokjin steps outside the tent to think about what happened, taking deep breaths.

_ Seokjin was trying to find an explanation for that, but when explanations don’t come along, there’s always someone willing to push you a bit. _

Hugo comes out and approaches Seokjin, “I’m old-fashioned and still believe in the good and bad guys. I’m completely sure that you are of the good ones… Could you stand up for Rodrigo? Because I can’t.”

Seokjin stares at him and the older leaves.

_ Rodrigo thought nothing possibly bad could happen to him, but it could. Of course it could. _

_ When you hit rock bottom, there’s still something before the edge of the abyss. _

  
  


Kyoto was singing to the song he had playing on his radio,  _ Bella Ciao _ , an anti-fascist resistance anthem back in Italy. A song that the Professor loved to play when they were still in Toledo.

“ _ Una mattina mi son alzato, o bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao ciao… _ ” He sang, moving his hips as he used the pickaxe to break the cement. He leaned down to remove the broken pieces and started to see dirt.

Kyoto grins happily, “Soil! We got soil!” He shouts.

Jakarta and Resita walk by the vault to see Kyoto throwing the dirt everywhere.

“What’s happening, Kyoto?” Resita looks at the ground.

“Look!” Kyoto throws dirt at the both of them, “We got it!”

Jakarta squeals happily and turns to Resita for a hug.

“Kyoto, you did it!” Jakarta turns to Kyoto and they give each other a hug.

_ It wasn’t dark yet that Sunday evening when we were in a very euphoric mood. We had found soil and Citadel has the printing presses working at full capacity. There were over four hundred million euros. _

Kyoto and Jakarta started to dance to the song as Resita happily threw dirt in the air.

Cairo walks to the door to check on everyone, he sees how happy the team is, he smiles, “_E seppellire_ _lassù in montagna…”_ He sings, knowing the lyrics by heart as he points to each of them. He struts in and gives Kyoto a handshake, he approaches the hole and touches the soil.

_ We had sealed the entries with explosives and had the feeling of being inside a bunker. It was ten minutes of glory.  _

“What’s going on, why is everybody celebrating?” Sucre asked, peeking inside the vault to see Cairo and Kyoto dancing with each other.

Resita pulls him in and points to the soil.

Sucre looks up at him and grins, he started to dance to the song while singing. The males started to dance in a circle while Jakarta started to throw money at them.

_ Undoubtedly, that was the happiest moment for us inside there. Everyone got along, Kyoto acted like he didn’t snap at me, and for once Cairo didn’t piss anyone off. But then we relaxed. _

* * *

Seung Hyun was in the middle of washing his face when Arad came in with another hostage. He looks at Resita who was watching him.

“Do you want to comb your hair too?” Resita asked.

Seung Hyun nods, watching Arad take the handcuffs off of the male, he goes inside a stall.

“Do you know what we say back home when two men make love?” Resita looks at Seung Hyun in the mirror.

Seung Hyun pauses and looks at him.

“We say  _ comb inside _ .” Resita started to laugh, making Seung Hyun uncomfortable.

“Can I go to the bathroom? The medication is making my stomach feel a little weird.” Seung Hyun says.

“Sure.” Resita opens the stall next to the other hostages. He looks at Arad, the two cousins talk loudly in Serbian.

Seung Hyun locks the door and kneels down, he taps the other’s foot, “Jacinto.” He whispers.

“Mister Lee?” Jacinto whispers back, he kneels down to meet him, “Mister Lee, I’m very tired of this. We are in the basement with the boilers, chained like dogs. Locked up with like four police officers, we can only come up here if we need to go to the bathroom.”

Seung Hyun thinks of a plan, “listen, Jacinto, we don’t have much time. I have a pair of scissors and I can get a hold of more tools. Give me two hours, you have a watch right?”

Jacinto nods.

“Okay, meet me up here, make up any excuse. I’ll put them in the stall, second to the left.”

“What will we do with the tools? These guys have explosives, M-16s, and other guns.” 

“And sixty-seven hostages are in your hands.” Seung Hyun says, putting pressure on him. He stands back up and flushes the toilet to go out of the stall.

  
  


“The photos sent by the kidnappers show explosives connected to photoelectric cells. They have been placed in all of the entries, even in the underground ventilation ducts.” Miguel says, going through the pictures, showing Seokjin.

“What kind of explosives are they using?” Seokjin asks.

“The bomb squad thinks it’s C-4s. I sent it to the scientific branch just in case.”

Seokjin squints, “who in the scientific branch?”

Miguel looked at Hugo, “we sent them to Carla.”

Seokjin looked offended looking at Miguel, he then turned to Hugo, who looked away to avoid his glare. “There’s no other inspector in that branch who does the same job as my ex-wife?” 

“Seokjin, we sent it to Carla because she’s the best at what she does.” Miguel sighs.

“It was also the order of the superintendent Sánchez,” Hugo added.

“And what do they think?” 

“They think it’s a P-4, very similar to the C-4. British origin, the connection is perfect if you ask me.”

“Inspector! We’ve detected an incoming phone call, it’s from the Fábrica.”

Seokjin runs to the worker and grabs his headset, “record it.”

“It’s from a hostage’s phone, Jun Li,” Miguel says.

“Hello? Jun Li?” Seokjin asks.

“This is Jongin Kim, I’m using their phone. What do you want?”

“To help you, Jongin. To do that, we need you to help us get inside the Fábrica and get the hostages out in the least aggressive way possible.” Seokjin says calmly.

Accra breathes in and out from his nose, “t-there’s plastic explosive in all entries.” 

“Yes, coming in is no problem. But we need an ally, an ally who can tell us where the robbers are at every minute.” 

Accra nods, “alright, and why would I sell my partners out to you?”

** _“They will tempt you with a better future, a prison sentence reduction, that in one or two years you’ll be out.” The Professor says in front of the class, the team paying attention to him._ **

“If you help us, you’ll be eligible for parole, a reduction in your prison sentence to two years. You’ll have a new future ahead of you by the age of twenty-two. Think about it.” Seokjin says.

** _The Professor turns around and writes on the chalkboard, ‘DIVIDE ET ÍMPERA’. He underlines this and looks at the group, “‘Divide and conquer,’ that’s the motto. It worked for a small town in Italy to take control of the whole world.” _ **

** _He walks towards them. “It worked for Napoleon, and now it’s working for the police.” _ **

** _He grabs printed copies of the law book and passes it to each member, “they will do their best to tempt you.”_ **

** _The Professor reaches the back of the room and stands next to the Fábrica model, “after forty-eight hours it will be harder for all of you mentally. Feeling anguish, negativism. Because of that, they will try to aim for the weakest link.” His eyes land on Accra, “there’s no weakness in us, there is outside… by the time they try to reach us, you’ll have committed six or eight crimes, at least. No judge can guarantee a reduced sentence.” _ **

** _The Professor looks at everyone sincerely, “once you are inside, the only one who can guarantee you being free… is me.”_ **

“Jongin, listen to me. The judge guarantees you being free in a very short time.”

“Alright, let's bring up the numbers, Inspector,” Accra starts, “aggravated robbery from two to five years, hostage-taking and setting conditions for the release of four escort police officers is forty years…”

Seokjin looks behind him, Hugo and Miguel, surprised.

** _“Hacking the alarm systems, computer hacking… we’re talking about six months up to two years.” The Professor tells Citadel, who’s writing the numbers down on the chalkboard._ **

** _“Public order offence for breaking in the Fábrica, one to six years,” he walks down looking at everyone else, “and with the hostages, it’s much more difficult.”_ **

** _Cairo raises his hand, “the law says that it can be from six to ten years for each kidnapping, we have sixty-seven hostages.”_ **

** _The Professor points at him and nods._ **

“Then the point-blank shooting at the police on the first day, from six to eight years for each officer.” Accra looks down on his arm, he calculated how many years he would get. “They were wounded as well, which is an offence causing injury, an aggravating circumstance that adds eight years for each injured police officer, no?”

Seokjin takes a deep breath.

** _“We are talking about… well, if we have a tough judge, seven hundred and twenty-three years will be the shortest sentence you can be offered. Right Citadel?” The Professor looks behind him._ **

** _She finished calculating and gave him a thumbs up._ **

** _Accra looks at the Professor, anxious._ **

“That’s a hundred and seventy-three years,” Accra says.

** _“The penal code is the game’s rules in any country. No one can break them, no one.” The Professor says looking at everyone._ **

“There’s one thing we can agree with though, Inspector…”

Seokjin waits patiently.

“A presidential pardon.”

Seokjin was taken aback and covers his mic.

Hugo grabs his shoulder, “tell him yes.” He whispers harshly.

Seokjin collects himself and takes his hand off the mic, “you want me to ask the president to pardon you?”

“No, I want you to ask the president to be on TV and in front of every citizen in Spain to say that if any of the kidnappers decide to cooperate to end this crisis, the possibility of offering them a pardon in exchange for their cooperation will be studied,” Accra says.

Seokjin covers the mic and sighs, “he’s bluffing.”

“First, the president will be in the news report. After that, I’ll consider the option of being the fucking snitch.”

“Alright then, we’ll do it. But for that to happen we need a gesture of goodwill from you,” Seokjin takes a deep breath, “tell us the name of the Professor and how many robbers there are inside.”

“We have to go along with him,” Hugo whispers to Miguel.

“Come on, Jongin, give me a name and a number and I can assure you will have a future again.”

Accra looks down, closing his eyes, “alright, grab a pen and paper.”

Seokjin looks at the worker who grabs both.

“MY FUCKING ASS! THIRTY-THREE!” Accra shouts at the phone and hangs up.

“That son of a bitch.” Hugo snarls.

Seokjin puts his hands on his face, trying to calm himself down.

“Attention, cut off all communication with the Fábrica.” Miguel orders.

Accra puts the phone in his pocket and the stall door opens, he looks up to see Arad, Jakarta, and Kyoto.

“The fuck did you do?” Jakarta asked him.

“You screwed up any chance of buying us more time,” Kyoto says, annoyed.

“Calm down, alright? They didn’t buy it, I heard them muttering in the background, for fuck’s sake.” Accra rolled his eyes and pushed them out of the way.

“Hey, who do you think you are? You had to execute, not to decide. O-Or change the fucking plans, you fuck. And that muttering thing, what the hell is it?” Kyoto grabs Accra’s shoulder only for Jakarta to push Kyoto’s hand away.

“He heard the conversation and if he says the Inspector wasn’t buying it, then that means he wasn’t.” Jakarta defends Accra, “we have been messing around with the bloody Inspector for some days. It’s not his fault, alright?” 

Accra looks at her, “the Inspector wasn’t going to phone the president, or the TV, or his fucking mother.” He continues.

Kyoto looks at the both of them, pissed, “you two… are such fucking assholes.” He shakes his head and leaves, Arad following him.

Jakarta looks at the two leaving and stares into Accra’s eyes.

_ Even though he was acting the whole time. Accra knew he wanted to accept the deal. To freeze time and get out of there as if nothing had happened. _

Accra was washing his arm when Jakarta broke the silence, “Would you have accepted the police’s offer?”

Accra looks at her, “you do know that all of this won’t end well, right?”

“Do you know what life imprisonment without the possibility of parole is?”

Accra turns the faucet off.

“Because that’s what we’ll get… I killed a security guard then some months later I broke into here, then shot a police officer.” She shrugs.

Accra turns around, walking towards her.

“I trust the Professor… I fully support him.” Jakarta nods, “you still haven't answered my question. Would you have accepted?”

“Well, would we stay together after we got out of here?” Accra asks.

“You’d be betraying your friends.”

“My friends? My friends with cities for names?” Accra scoffs, “Jakarta, Sucre, Citadel, Resita…”

Jakarta stops him, “the friends with cities for names are fucking badass, no? Everyone has their part in this plan, and whether you like or hate them, you know damn well they won’t accept any offer to put the team in danger… even Cairo.”

Accra’s eyes started to tear up.

“I’ll tell you one thing, you better hideaway if you accept the deal because if I see you, I’ll shoot you in your temple while saying goodbye.” Jakarta’s voice cracks leaving Accra behind, hiding her tears.

* * *

“I just talked to the security guard, Jacinto, they are locked up in the basement like fucking dogs. Eleven security guards and four police officers, they are our last chance.” Seung Hyun whispers to Calvin while Resita is passing out food to the hostages.

“How will we help them though?” Calvin asks.

“We have to give them weapons, drill bits, hammers, screws, anything.”

Resita gives a sandwich to Calvin and also offers one to Seung Hyun.

“N-No thank you, I’m not hungry right now.” Seung Hyun declines.

“Are you sure?” Resita asks.

Seung Hyun nods and Resita walks away.

“I’ll go get the tools then,” Calvin whispers.

“Don’t talk about this to anyone.” Seung Hyun threatens.

“Alright, everyone at the tunnels, go left. Everyone at the printing press, go right.” Resita orders.

* * *

The chaperone is escorted by Citadel to Cairo’s office, she looks around to see Cairo and Lisa sitting in front of him.

“Hello Mercedes,” Cairo greeted, “I called you in to see what can be done about your pupil, Lisa Manoban.”

Mercedes sits in front of him nervously.

“She ran away and we found her hiding inside the safety box, why do you think she’s being rebellious?” Cairo asked, taking a sip of water.

“I’m not afraid of you, or your nonsensical speeches,” Lisa crosses her arms, “you won’t do anything to me, and you know why? Because I’m not just a hostage. I’m the safe conduct.” She taunts the older man.

Citadel rolls her eyes while Cairo smiles.

“That’s not really nice, Lisa. I’m a changed man now after a very deep conversation with my team,” he squints, “I won’t be too… what’s the word…” Cairo looks down to think, “irritable.” He meets Lisa’s eyes. Cairo stands up to grab a red folder, he takes pictures out one by one. “Your aunt Becky, a very nice woman who volunteers in small villages in Mali.” He sets the photo in front of her.

Lisa looks at the picture, trying to look tough.

“Then we have your cousin Elsie, thriving in Kings College,” Cairo smiles, “do you look for her during family gatherings? You two seem very close.”

Lisa looks at Mercedes, the older woman sitting anxiously.

“Oh! This one is Brian? The older brother who helps you with homework back in Wellington.” Cairo nods, “and then your sister Rose, she goes to the same boarding school as you, huh? But unlike you, she’s very respectful to people older than her.” He gives her the photo.

Lisa looks at her sister smiling.

“As a girl from your social status, I’m sure you have no idea how much it costs to hire a hitman, right?” Cairo asked her, raising his brows, “I think we can find a decent one starting at thirty thousand euros?” He looks at Citadel.

Citadel nods, looking at Lisa.

“Maybe it would be a different story for dear old aunt Becky, she’s in Africa after all.” Cairo shrugs.

Mercedes looks at him, horrified.

“Your family’s lives are in your hands, Lisa. You should think about that… if you don’t, then that's thirty thousand out of our paycheck.” Cairo pouts.

Citadel taps Cairo’s shoulder, “that’s enough, I’m taking her away.” She whispers, Cairo nods.

Citadel takes a deep breath and grabs Lisa by the arm, “when I told you to make yourself heard, I should’ve said what’s most important is to choose the right moment.” Her grip is getting tighter and tighter as they walk out of the room.

The Professor calls Cairo, “how’s everything going?”

“Good, all going to plan as far as I’m concerned.” 

“Alright, then the next phone call is in six hours.” The Professor says, looking at his watch.

* * *

“Inspector, the underground unit has found oscillations on the seismograph,” Miguel reports carrying a folder in his hand.

“We need to bring in a GPR, see if we can find out where they are building the tunnel.” 

Miguel nods.

“Listen, everyone, if you are not doing anything right now, you may leave, take a rest then come back the next day or something. The rest of you get back to work.” 

Hugo looks at Seokjin and walks towards him, “Rodrigo is here.” He whispers.

Seokjin looks behind, he sees Rodrigo with a stern look on his face.

“Actually, can everyone go out for a minute?” Seokjin asks, the workers got up and went outside.

Rodrigo looks at him with his eyebrows raised.

“I have to relieve you from the case, I’m sorry,” Seokjin says, “I think this will all clear up later after we solve everything, but right now I can’t trust you.” He shakes his head.

“You don't trust me?” Rodrigo scoffs, “the thing is only you and I knew about Toledo, Seokjin. Only you and me.”

“What the heck are you saying?” Seokjin asks, offended.

“I am not a traitor, so this all comes down to you.” Rodrigo points at him.

Seokjin raises his brows, “you have the fucking nerve to accuse me, huh? They knew we were entering the museum wearing the masks and at the same time, you knew it. They knew when we were going to the junkyard, you knew it. They knew about the fucking pharmacy, you knew it.”

“Yeah, and it can’t be anything else?”

“Like what?!”

“Who knows?! A fucking phone call, a fucking microphone!” Rodrigo raises his hand.

“Only you and I knew about the pharmacy,” Seokjin whispers harshly.

“And you didn’t tell anyone, have you? Huh? You didn’t tell that weird guy from the diner? What about him?!”

The Professor sits quietly as he hears the conversation happen.

“Salva? What about him?”

“Yeah! Him! Your shoulder to cry on, the guy shows up here and all of a sudden you tell him your whole life story, and you don’t suspect him at all. He’s been inside here, Seokjin! He’s been inside the tent! Did you investigate him? Huh?”

Seokjin looks at him, jaw clenched.

“Because I have. Have you done your fucking job? He has a workshop nearby, he says he makes cider and everything was covered in canvas! Don’t you think he’s hiding something?!

“Don’t tell me you followed him.” Seokjin shakes his head.

“I’ve been following him! He doesn’t make cider or anything, he makes rubbish cider from a fucking bottle and pours it into a cauldron and there’s trash everywhere! He has a fucked up car and sleeps in a damn bunk bed surrounded by wheels and oil stains. He smells like a damn chemist cooking meth. He’s suspicious, Seokjin! And you have the fucking balls to suspect me?! Me?!”

The Professor blinks, looking at the dog whose head is tilted in confusion. He shrugs.

“Do I actually smell like I cook meth?”

The dog barks.

“How much did they pay you? One million? Two?” Seokjin asks calmly.

“Why do you badly want to protect a man you barely met?” Rodrigo’s voice breaks.

“Miguel! Miguel!” Seokjin calls him from inside.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Rodrigo asks.

Miguel comes in.

“Handcuff him and take him away,” Seokjin says, pointing to Rodrigo.

“Inspector, that’s not the protocol.”

“No, fuck the protocol just handcuff me,” Rodrigo says, pissed.

“Just take him away.” Seokjin closes his eyes.

“If you really want, I can call Internal Affairs, but in the meantime, no one is going to be handcuffed,” Miguel says, walking outside.

The two take a moment to calm down.

“Seokjin, I’ve been partners with you for fifteen years.”

“With me? No. You’ve been getting close to me to see if I fall for you. Always talking about Cercedilla, always talking about leaving your wife. And now, I say no to you, all of a sudden you are the fucking traitor.”

Rodrigo avoids his glare, tears threatening to fall.

“What did you sell? Our friendship? The operation?” Seokjin asked as he tried to control his breathing, “you need to leave, now.”

_ Do you know what ‘collateral damage’ means? It’s a term coined during the Vietnam war by the American army when they didn’t have the guts to talk clearly about killing civilians. But it’s sometimes used to take the blame off of you, like a boomerang. And that’s about to happen to the Professor. _

* * *

Calvin slowly approaches Seung Hyun and kneels down next to him, “I got it. I got the tools.”

“What kind did you get?”

“Hand saws, screwdrivers…” Calvin unzips his jumpsuit revealing several tools taped to his torso.

“D-Don’t show me that, you're gonna get caught!” Seung Hyun whispered harshly.

“What are you two doing? Start cleaning!” Resita says throwing a trash bag at them.

Seung Hyun nods and picks up the trash bag, he turns around and looks at Calvin, “listen carefully, in thirty-five minutes asked to be escorted to the bathroom, go to the second stall to the left, leave the tools there. Jacinto will go in forty minutes.”

Calvin gulps, “Me again? I already stole all the tools.”

“Just do your part.” Seung Hyun rolls his eyes.

  
  


“Seokjin? Are you alright? What’s wrong?” The Professor asked, his cell phone on speaker.

“Well, to be honest with you, I'm a little bit disappointed. I’m at the diner though.” Seokjin gave a small smile, holding a bottle of beer.

“I-I don’t understand, disappointed?” The Professor adjusts his tie in front of the mirror.

“Well, I was about to meet with someone here, my first date in eight years with someone who’s not my family, and they haven’t shown up yet. I even dressed nice.” Seokjin smirks, “I think he stood me up.”

The Professor smiles, “and don’t you think it’s because you were thirty-five minutes early?” He looks at his watch.

“It’s possible… the truth is I’m a very impatient man.” Seokjin sighs and giggles, “I’m sorry, Salva. I just wanted to make sure you remembered our date…”

The Professor hums.

“And to be honest with you, I’m scared of getting stood up. I wouldn’t know what to do and get out of here if you didn’t show up.” Seokjin gulps.

“Well don’t worry, I just have to feed the dog and I’ll be there in five minutes.” The Professor grins.

  
  


Yoongi was left alone with his thoughts inside the vault, resting as he leaned back on the wall.

**‘** ** _I can barely breathe when I’m around you.’ Seung Hyun smiles._ **

** _‘Well, breathe. Because I’m about to collect my money pretty soon.’ Yoongi turns around to look at him, his smile falls._ **

Yoongi scoffs and closes his eyes.

** _‘What do you want me to do, Yoongi? Have my wife write you a check for a couple hundred thousand euros every month from my bank account?! For fuck’s sake!’_ **

** _‘She obviously doesn’t want the baby to live with a guy who’s confused about his sexuality for a father.’_ **

“Fucking damn it,” Yoongi whispers and shakes his head.

The vault opens, Sucre coming in with a plate filled with food. “Hey!” Sucre sings with a smile.

Yoongi looks up at him and gives a small smile back.

“I brought you a full course meal, you’ll be blown away.” Sucre boops Yoongi’s nose with a grin.

Yoongi scrunches his nose and laughs, “what was that for?”

“Nothing,” Sucre looks at him fondly, “anyways, there’s a sandwich… the same kind that I’ve been eating for days now, and I’m still alive, so I’m assuming it’s okay for you to eat.” He shrugs.

Yoongi chuckles and looks at Sucre in the eyes, not paying attention to the food.

“I also grabbed some biscuits, they're gluten-free, and I grabbed them because maybe you are allergic to gluten products?” Sucre asked nervously, looking at him.

Yoongi nods with a smirk, “sure.”

Sucre looks down, blushing, “and then a chocolate pastry, because Cairo was being nice for once and told me you might like it… so I hope you do.” He scratches the back of his head, “because I like chocolate pastries too… if you don’t want it, I’ll eat it for you.”

Yoongi smiles and looks at Sucre’s lips.

“I also bought some candy, I don’t know if you like these but you should try some,” Sucre says, grabbing a handful of candy from his pocket, he starts unwrapping one and looks into Yoongi’s eyes, his expression was intense, almost threatening.

For a moment, Sucre thought Yoongi was starting to get annoyed, but before he could think it over, Yoongi pulled him in for a hungry kiss. The caress of the other’s lips softer than he could have imagined, Yoongi opened his mouth with a low moan.

* * *

“ _ Hello, this is Seokjin speaking. I can’t answer your call right now. If it’s urgent, leave your message after the beep. _ ” The voicemail said.

Rodrigo sighs, and takes a swig from the bottle, his vision getting hazy. “Jin, it’s me, Rodrigo. I’m asking you to reconsider. I know you’re mad and I understand why. This is not the first time we fought, right? I know I was being an asshole but I’m not a traitor, I swear I’m not, for fuck sake.” He sniffs and looks at the bottle of liquor beside him. 

“You screwed me over, Jin, so fucking bad,” he sighs, getting in his car, “give me a call.” Rodrigo hangs up the phone and shuts the car door harshly.

  
  


Sucre had his arm around Yoongi as they cuddled on the floor, eating the candies.

“What were you thinking about the morning before the robbery?” Yoongi asks looking up at him.

“Well, I woke up… went out to smoke.”

** _“What the hell are you doing smoking so early?” Kyoto asks Sucre, a cup of tea in his hand._ **

** _“Just relaxing… did you sleep well?” Sucre asked, dropping his cigarette on the ground and stomping on it._ **

** _“Yeah, I did,” Kyoto said, pulling a chair next to him._ **

“It was like an ordinary day, to be honest.” Sucre shrugged.

“It probably took courage, no?”

“It’s not that bad.”

“Yes it is, a cowardly person is telling you it is… look at me, going after a married man to avoid failure and support my baby.” Yoongi looks down.

“Hey, don’t say that you are not a coward.”

“Yes I am.”

“No, you’re not. You stole a phone in the middle of a robbery, insisted on me shooting you in the leg, stood firm before Cairo, who’s probably the scariest man I’ve ever met… you even had the guts to grab me by the neck and kiss me. You need to have a lot of guts to make out with a loser wearing a Dalí mask.” Sucre chuckles.

Yoongi gives him a small smile.

“But, um… actually, I was very scared that morning.”

Yoongi hugs him tighter.

** _“I’m scared, Jimin,” Sucre whispered looking at the sky._ **

** _“Why?”_ **

** _“The Professor, he seems like a very clever guy but… I don’t know, it’s just crazy.”_ **

** _“At least he knows what he’s talking about.” _ **

“I started to doubt everything.” Sucre looks at Yoongi, caressing his hair.

** _“I don’t even know why I’m here.” Sucre shrugs._ **

** _“You’re here with me.”_ **

** _“But the thing is that everyone is an expert in something… you’re in charge of our escape route, Citadel with the fake banknotes… you’re so good at what you do and I,” Sucre looks down, taking a deep breath, “I haven’t done anything good in my life.”_ **

“My brother is a really good guy, he said he needed me here so I went with him. It’s been crazy, I even met this really handsome dude.” Sucre smiles and boops Yoongi’s nose.

* * *

“You have one minute,” Arad tells Jacinto as he opens the stall.

Jacinto nods and locks the door, he opens the lid and sees the tools taped under it, he grabs the note and reads it silently.

‘ _ These are the tools we managed to steal.  _

_ Get undressed and tape them to your body with duct tape to take them to the basement and untie yourselves.  _

_ Cut the ducts in the boiler room and anything you can use as weapons. _

_ At 9PM they’ll take your dinner down, take that chance to disarm your captors and escape.  _

_ We’ll meet up at the warehouse, hidden behind the paper rolls. _

_ I’ll try to take as many hostages as possible without compromising the plan. _ ’

  
  
  


“Thank goodness I showed up, your date is a real asshole for leaving you alone.” The Professor said, stirring his drink.

Seokjin hides a smile, playing along, “yeah, I know. He’s a bastard.”

“And, um… this date of yours, were you particularly interested in him? Or…”

Seokjin chuckles, “no. Not anymore.” 

The Professor hums and nods, “well that’s a shame… Let’s see if I’m any good.”

“So far, you are.” 

“Good,” the Professor looks down, “I have something to confess, that we are both in danger, because… if I have another one of these,” he points to his drink, “I might start to sing very badly.”

Seokjin laughs quietly, “I’ll sing badly with you then.”

The Professor leans over towards Seokjin, his arms resting on the table, “When do you think we’d be addressing each other informally?”

“Once you look under the table.”

The Professor widens his eyes and stops, “I…”

“Come on, Salva. Take a peek.” Seokjin smirks as he leans back into his chair.

The Professor coughs, “um, i-if you’re about to do something from the  _ Basic Instinct _ , I might need something stronger because I’m a little conservative.”

“Salva, listen to me. Just take a peek.” Seokjin smiles.

The Professor gulps and looks around the room, he gives Seokjin a small smile as he leans down to look. His smile drops as he sees Seokjin pointing a gun at him under the table.

“Salva, I don’t want you to make a scene here.”

The Professor slowly goes back up.

“I think you are hiding something in that workshop where you supposedly make cider. So either you willingly take me there or we wait here until I get a search warrant, but I’m warning you right now that will take hours.” Seokjin smiles.


	12. DEFACE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seung Hyun continues to formulate an escape plan for a group of hostages. The Professor reveals who gave him the idea for the heist.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oof,, late update. sorry bout that.  
also,, trigger warning: slight mention of r*pe and minor character death

Rodrigo continues to drink and drive as he tries to contact Seokjin on his phone.

“ _ Hello, this is Seokjin speaking. I can’t answer your call right now. If it’s urgent, leave your message after the beep. _ ”

“Fucking hell,” Rodrigo muttered, “Jin, why the hell are you not answering me? After fifteen years of working with you like a fucking fool. It’s not to get closer to you to… no.” He shakes his head.

A car comes next to him and the driver shouts, “Follow the speed limit, bastard!”

Rodrigo ignores them and drinks once again, “i-it’s because of our friendship, the love we had, for  _ fucking  _ love.” He cried.

SUNDAY 9:45 PM

60TH HOUR OF THE ROBBERY

The Professor opens the door, Seokjin pointing the gun at him.

“Y-You can come in.” The Professor says, cautious.

“You go first.” Seokjin glares at him, he scans the area, the entrance was dark and covered in plastic curtains. “What are these for?”

“It’s just to protect you from the cold.”

“Keep moving then.”

They reach the end of the hallway, where the fuse box was located.

“Turn the lights on, and don’t you dare do anything stupid.” Seokjin threatened.

The Professor slowly switched all the lights on, standing still.

This average-sized studio has wooden furniture. The floor is tiled and the walls are painted with a light shade of yellow. Seokjin looks to the left, fluorescent light giving the cider bottles a bright shine in the kitchen. The room is clean and overall has a cozy look. Seokjin notices the dog sitting on the sofa looking at him in the middle of the living room. No smell of meth and oil as Rodrigo described.

* * *

“What  _ did _ you do before all of this?” Yoongi asks Sucre with a smile.

Sucre huffs, “I’ve done a lot of things.”

“Like what?”

“Um… mainly sales rep.” Sucre makes a face.

Yoongi gives him a look.

“Working at a chemical lab… I was a security guard, and on the weekends I dance at the disco.” Sucre nods.

“Really?” 

“Yeah! No shirt either.” Sucre winks.

“What kind of dances?” Yoongi laughs.

“Samba, twist, rock and roll… you’d be impressed.” Sucre leans back, his face smug.

“Oh really? Let me see you dance.” Yoongi smirks, crossing his arms.

Sucre’s mouth drops, “I-I…”

“Well? Come on!” Yoongi smacks the other’s shoulder, “give me a show.”

“Right now?” 

“Yeah!”

Sucre stands up slowly, “give me a minute, close your eyes.”

Yoongi grins, putting his hands up to cover his eyes.

Sucre takes his shirt off underneath his jumpsuit, he leaves it unzipped to show off his chest. He rolls his sleeves up and pops his collar out. “Ready? Open your eyes.”

Yoongi puts his hands down to see Sucre dancing, imitating Elvis Presley. He turned elegantly, even though there’s no music, he was someone who shouldn’t be underestimated. Sucre didn’t quite care at the moment, Yoongi was looking at him, impressed.

Was it because he was falling in love with a man he hardly knows?

“Listen to me Seokjin, you’re a bitch. Do you hear me? A selfish and obsessive bitch! Not even Hugo would fuck you!” Rodrigo shouts.

Seokjin continues to walk around the room, his gun still in hand. He sees something covered in cloth, he approaches it and takes it off, only to see barrels with spigots. 

Rodrigo hears cars beeping around him as his car starts to swerve.

Seokjin looks back at the dog, trying to greet the Professor, but he stays still.

Seokjin walks to the right, seeing a bed with decorative pillows and rumpled bed sheets, to the corner is a coat rack and a bookshelf. Another thing was covered in cloth and Seokjin pulled it off, a keyboard piano on top of a stand.

“J-Jin… it’s me again, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to call you a bitch.” Rodrigo murmured, his eyes started to close, “I just don’t know what I'd do if I’m dismissed from the police department… you’d destroy me.” He drinks from the liquor bottle once again till its empty.

The Professor slowly walks towards Seokjin, “I know I told you I was unemployed but… this cider thing isn’t a job, it’s just a project.” He points to the cider in the kitchen, “I don’t even know if it would work… I’m sorry if it looks suspicious to you, I don’t know if your partner saw something illegal. But some nights I do indeed sleep here.” He points to the bed, “I just give too much time with the cider and stuff, I don’t know if that's what he saw or… or maybe this whole thing has to pass some kind of inspection. I’m sorry.”

Seokjin looks at him, he walks to the kitchen, “Can I taste some of your cider?” He puts the gun in his holster.

The Professor looks at him, worried, “s-sure.” He nods.

_ It was quite obvious that the Inspector would want to get in the Professor’s little corner. With a bunch of euros, it's easy to rent a filthy warehouse and turn it into the perfect setting for the performance. Being willing to believe it or not was up to the Inspector. _

The Professor hands over a bottle of cider to Seokjin.

“If it doesn’t taste good, I’m sorry… your partner told me I should work on it more…” The Professor says.

Seokjin grabs a glass and pours one for the Professor, “drink it with me.”

The Professor nods and they both drink it.

Seokjin sighs, “I-I’m sorry, Salva.” He puts his head down, “ _ fuck _ , I feel so embarrassed for pointing my gun at you to force you to bring me over. I-I’d actually prefer to show you something else under the table but,” He looks up to see the Professor looking at him, blushing. “I mean, y-you called it ‘Basic Instinct’, I don’t know.” Seokjin goes to the living room and sits on the sofa, petting the dog.

“It’s okay, I understand.” The Professor follows him.

“To think that I sent my ex-wife over…” Seokjin shakes his head, “I feel stupid.”

“Y-Your ex-wife?”

“Yeah, she’s the best in the whole scientific branch, because Rodrigo described this place as if it was a drug lab.” 

The Professor widens his eyes as he takes a seat next to him, “A drug lab?”

Seokjin nods, “I’m sorry again. It’s just so stupid, I ruined our date and—”

“No, don’t feel sorry.” The Professor looks at Seokjin.

Seokjin drew the Professor towards him with his eyes, he gently grabbed the back of his neck and kissed him softly.

The Professor breathes deeply, he remains sitting there, not knowing what to do, it was his first kiss after all. He was astonished by the way his heart reacted, he felt excitement and fear. He tried to pay attention and keep up, but Seokjin pulled away.

“I-I’m sorry.” Seokjin backs off.

“No! I… I just haven’t done anything like this before.” The Professor looks down nervously.

Seokjin’s eyes widened, “oh.”

“Sorry, I ruined it didn’t I?”

“No! Of course not.” Seokjin shakes his head.

The Professor decides to mimic Cairo, he remembers one time when they were teenagers, Cairo pulled Jungkook in by the waist and kissed him, hiding from their parents as Cairo cried and begged the older not to tell anyone.

The Professor awkwardly put his hands on Seokjin’s waist and stared into the other’s eyes for a second, he connected their lips once again as Seokjin deepened the kiss.

On one hand, Seokjin started to take his coat off, untying his tie, he leaned back, “I promise to not pull a gun on you.”

The Professor gulps, “a-alright.” He nods.

They kissed once again, Seokjin’s hand sliding up the Professor’s spine, he felt the other shiver, “or frisk you, or doubt you ever again.”

“O-Okay.”

The two kissed more passionately by the second as the Professor carried Seokjin to his bed.

Rodrigo’s phone rings, it was the forensic worker. He tried to sound sober as he answered the call, “Yes?”

“Rodrigo the results are in, the fingerprint from the spoon matched with the one from the car.”

Rodrigo grins, “t-that’s great, I’ll call you later, okay?” He hangs up the phone and calls Seokjin once more, the car speeds up.

Seokjin’s phone vibrated silently on the desk.

They were both so wrapped up in each other, while Seokjin kissed the other roughly.

“ _ The voice mailbox of the number you have dialled is full. _ ”

“Fucking shit,” Rodrigo muttered, he looks up and quickly swerves to avoid hitting a car.

“It’s time, the guards must be untying themselves by now. At ten-thirty PM they’ll come out of the warehouse. You know where that is right?” Seung Hyun whispered, adjusting his sleeping bag.

“Yeah, but can I tell someone about this? Like, five people?” Calvin asks.

“No, are you crazy? Do you want to screw it up before we even start? Three people are already too much, do you think four is any better? We can help them from the outside.”

“Who’s the third person?”

“Yoongi Min.” Seung Hyun looks at him.

“W-Why him?”

“His ex is pregnant, he needs to be there for the baby.”

“Oh,” Calvin mutters, confused.

Seung Hyun starts to stand up.

“Where are you going?” Calvin asks.

“I’m going to look for him, you stay here and go to the warehouse. I have to go convince that guy to bring me to Yoongi… and then,” Seung Hyun shows the younger the pair of scissors Mercedes gave him.

“Y-Your going to kill him?”

“What I’m not going to do is stay here waiting like a lamb to be shot. A man has to do what a man has to do.” Seung Hyun stands up and walks to Resita. 

“R-Resita, I’m not feeling well.”

Resita looks down at him, “Do you need more tablets?”

Seung Hyun shakes his head, “no… you see, earlier when I saw Min Yoongi and realized he was alive and well, I went over to him and he didn’t react the way I expected him to. Then that colleague of yours, Sucre, escorted him downstairs, or something to have a rest. I just really want to talk to him… please help a man in love.” 

Resita looks at him suspiciously before smiling, “alright then.”

* * *

“Come on, everyone helps each other out while no one is watching!” Jacinto says, helping each guard break free from their zip ties and handcuffs.

Every man working together to get free and break out of the basement, hungry for freedom.

_ And while our first defeat was approaching, the mastermind of the operation wasn’t there, because as brilliant the man was, he only had two eyes which were only focused on the Inspector. _

Seokjin chuckles into the Professor’s neck.

“What?” He looks at Seokjin with a smile.

Seokjin smiles back, “nothing.”

The Professor grins, “What?” He taunts.

“It’s just you look like a different person with no glasses… like Superman and Clark Kent.” Seokjin laughs towards him and gives him a kiss.

“D-Do you like me with glasses more?”

“I didn’t say that.” Seokjin grins.

“Welp, I’ll put my glasses on now,” the Professor reaches for his glasses on the desk, “it’s kind of weird to sleep with your glasses on but it’s fine.” 

Seokjin laughs.

“I usually sleep without them on but today, I guess I can do it today.” He pouts.

Seokjin’s smile slowly falls, “y-you know, I actually can’t stay the night…” He sits up, the Professor following him.

“I kind of want to wake up tomorrow and drop my daughter off to school.” Seokjin grabs his clothes.

“O-Of course.” The Professor gulps.

Rodrigo scrolls to his contacts and searches for Seokjin’s home phone and calls that instead.

“ _ Hello, this is Seokjin speaking. I can’t answer your call right now. If it’s urgent, leave your message after the beep. _ ”

“Seokjin! Call me, your voice mailbox is full. We have him!” The car starts to swerve more and more, “we have the guy who’s been helping the robbers outside.”

“But you still got at least seven or eight hours… to,” the Professor gets distracted by Seokjin putting his pants on, “to… drop your daughter off at school.”

Seokjin looks at him with a smile.

“It’s Salva! SALVA!!! THE GUY WHO MAKES CIDER! It’s him, Seokjin. Him. He was in the junkyard, he threatened the Russian guy, for fuck’s sake.”

Seokjin pulls him in for another kiss, “I’m sorry, but I’m not staying.”

The Professor nods understandingly, still sad.

“Do you play the piano?” Seokjin looks at the instrument while putting his jacket on.

“He’s using you! His fingerprints were in the patrol car. He’s only with you to learn about the investigation!” Rodrigo looks at his phone, the battery extremely low. “Fuck!”

Rodrigo grabs his phone, not paying attention to the road as the car continues to swerve. He loses control over the wheel and starts to panic, he hits a curb as he turns too quickly, causing the vehicle to roll over from the impact.

The Professor started to play  _ The Entertainer _ by Scott Joplin on the piano slowly.

Seokjin looks at him while he plays, smiling.

“You know I learned this from watching my brother pla—” 

Seokjin gives him a kiss on the cheek, causing the other to blush.

* * *

As Resita and Seung Hyun walk in the hallway, they hear faint sounds of moaning.

Resita looks at the older, “is that Yoongi?” He hides a smile.

“N-No. He’s not really loud, it’s probably one of your colleagues doing each other.” Seung Hyun says.

“Hm… okay.” Resita gives him a smug look.

They slowly approach the vault, the sensual sounds getting louder and louder.

Seung Hyun waits for Resita to open the vault, only to see Yoongi moan, pleasure coursing through his body.

Seung Hyun watches, his face blank and embarrassed.

“D-Don’t stop,” Yoongi looks back at Sucre.

“Shit!” Sucre grabs a blanket to cover Yoongi and himself, “for fuck’s sake, Seung Hyun, what the hell are you doing here?”

Resita turns around, minding his own business.

Seung Hyun’s jaw clenches.

The guards continue to work, grabbing anything they can to use as a weapon.

Arad walks through the hallway, approaching the door.

“He’s coming!” One said as all the men go back in place, pretending that their restraints are still on.

Arad unlocks the door, bringing the food and water in. He slowly sees loose chains on the ground and realizes everyone was free, as he was about to draw his rifle, Jacinto hits him hard behind the head with a pipe. Arad slowly falls down to the ground and Jacinto grabs his rifle, leading the rest of the hostages out of the basement.

If the Professor was watching the cameras, he would have alerted the others.

Sucre and Yoongi slowly got dressed as Seung Hyun looked at the both of them pissed.

_ Seung Hyun, at last had a heroic gesture, instead of escaping alone, he decided to rescue his prince. But that immediately backfired on him, because prince’s have their own lives too. _

“What’s the matter, Yoongi?” Seung Hyun asked.

_ They have their own secrets. _

“W-Was he raping you?

“No, he wasn’t. Don’t speak nonsense… I gave him my full consent.” Yoongi says, adjusting his shirt.

Sucre looks at Seung Hyun.

_ We’ve always heard stories about husbands catching their wives with a lover. But when Seung Hyun catches his lover with another, it is a different story. _

Seung Hyun turns around and starts to vomit, the painful feeling at the back of his throat as his muscles contract to force the acid out of his stomach.

“Seung Hyun!” Resita holds the other up from falling, “calm down. Breathe.”

Sucre helps Yoongi get in the jumpsuit, gently guiding the other.

“Y-Yoongi, get your stuff, we need to go.” Seung Hyun wipes his mouth, carelessly.

_ Seung Hyun only had one word in mind: Vengeance. _

“I’m not leaving,” Yoongi shakes his head.

“Yes you are, you are coming with me. Resita, take Yoongi out and leave me alone with Sucre.” Seung Hyun orders.

“Excuse me? I don’t take orders from you.” Resita says.

“Resita, ignore him. Let’s not get things out of hand, Seungri, we can discuss this.” Sucre walks up to him.

“I’m not leaving.” Yoongi repeats, pulling on the back of Sucre’s jumpsuit.

“Yes you are, this is between me and this bastard. Come at me!” Seung Hyun shouts, wincing as his shoulder bothered him.

Resita looks at Sucre and raises his eyebrows.

Sucre laughs, “okay then,” he turns around to look at Yoongi, “you have to leave.” He nods.

“N-No.”

“It’s okay, Resita’s going with you.” Sucre reassures him, “everything’s going to be fine, Yoongi.”

“Yoongi, let’s go,” Resita says, walking over to him.

“Are you sure?” Yoongi whispers.

“Yeah, yeah… I’ll be fine, don’t worry.” Sucre smirks.

Resita holds Yoongi’s hand and leads him outside the vault.

Seung Hyun puts his hand in his pocket, his tight grip on the handle of the scissors.

Sucre turns around and looks at Seung Hyun with a calm expression.

Resita gives Sucre one last look before closing the vault.

“You have a lot of nerve taking advantage of a wounded man.” Seung Hyun snarls.

Sucre looks at him, he raises his eyebrows.

Seung Hyun raises his two hands in the shape of a fist, his thumbs covered by the rest of his fingers as he swings towards Sucre.

Sucre effortlessly evades the punch and he calmly walks to the other side, “be careful of your thumbs, you might break them.”

Jacinto raises his hands to signal the others to stop, he hears footsteps and gets the rifle ready. 

Calvin immediately puts his hands up, “I’m a hostage! I’m a hostage!”

“Who told you to go here?”

“S-Seung Hyun, he said to meet here at ten-thirty PM.” 

Jacinto looks at his watch, “we should wait for him, there’s still two minutes.”

“His ex is pregnant, do you know that?” Seung Hyun grabs his shoulder in pain, “we will raise the baby together.” He swings again and Sucre avoids it.

“Seungri, you need to stop it right now. I don’t want to actually break a rule.”

“I’m going to kill you, you son of a bitch.” He tries to punch him, but Sucre catches his fist and pushes him to the ground.

Seung Hyun throws money at him, hitting Sucre in the eye, Seung Hyun screams in anger as he stabs Sucre’s back with the scissors.

Sucre groans and tries to control his breathing.

“Who’s laughing now?! Huh?!” Seung Hyun taunts, “HAHAHAHA!!! With your stupid laugh!” 

Sucre reaches for the scissors on his back and pulls it out, Seung Hyun’s face falls. 

Sucre examines the scissors up close, “you tried to kill me with a pair of blunt-tip scissors, Seungri?” His voice deep, filled with anger and frustration.

“I-I… I’m sorry, I didn’t know. I’m very stressed and I don’t know!” Seung Hyun panics.

Sucre throws the scissors away and grabs Seung Hyun by the collar and drags him as he pushes the other’s head on the wall forcefully.

“I’m sorry!!!” Seung Hyun screams.

“Look at me.”

“NO!”

“LOOK AT ME!!!” Sucre punches him in the face, “give me a fucking reason not to smash your head this very instant. Give me a fucking reason!”

“THEY’RE ESCAPING! THEY’RE ESCAPING!”

“Who?”

“SIXTEEN HOSTAGES!!! They’re escaping right now. And I know where.”

Sucre looks at him in the eye.

“There’s no time. We need to go.” Calvin says.

Jacinto sighs as he checks his watch, “Follow me.”

Sucre runs as fast as he can to go to the staff room, adrenaline rushing through his veins.

“That’s plastic explosives,” Jacinto says as the hostages behind him stop running.

“ANYONE?!” Sucre screams as he screams in the hallway.

Jakarta comes out of the staff room, “Hey, what’s wrong?”

“Sixteen hostages are escaping through the loading area.” Sucre pants.

Cairo hears this and grabs his rifle, “Jakarta, go get Citadel.”

Jakarta adjusts her rifle and runs to the printing factory.

“Accra, Sucre, get Arad and Resita.” Cairo orders.

Accra and Sucre nod and start to run.

“Namjoon, what the hell,” Cairo mutters.

Jacinto cuts open a bag of PETN and throws the powder to the plastic explosives. “Everyone get back.”

The Professor’s phone rings and no one picks up.

Cairo starts to panic and tries to calm himself down.

“What’s happening?!” Citadel runs in with Jakarta behind her.

“Sixteen hostages are trying to escape, put on your bulletproof vests,” Cairo says, his hand started to tremble.

“For fuck’s sake,” Citadel says, frustrated.

Jakarta helps Citadel put on her vest as she does the same to herself.

Cairo groans as he slams the telephone, “we’re going to have to stop them.” He says, loading his gun, “do the others have vests on?”

“Yeah, Sucre’s helping them.” Jakarta answers.

“You two ready?” Cairo adjusts his grip.

“Yeah,” Citadel says, gulping as she holds the rifle.

Cairo leads the way downstairs.

“Take cover!”

The hostages go in between boxes and cement walls as they hide.

“Everyone ready?” Jacinto asks.

“Yeah!”

“Here goes nothing.” Jacinto grabs a cart and pushes it towards the door.

The Professor calmly walks inside the room where his equipment is located and sits down. The smile on his face immediately drops when he sees his team running around from room to room, his security cameras filming every single thing. 

He watches as a hostage continues to push the cart towards the door with plastic explosives.

“No.”

Jacinto lets go of the cart and jumps to get out of the way.

The door explodes open.

The swat team waiting outside duck for cover.

The Professor gasps in terror.

“Attention!!! There’s been an explosion inside the building. I want communication with the SWAT team, now.” Miguel orders, the workers start to rush trying not to panic.

“Teams One and Two, go to the area of the incident.”

“Go! Go! Start moving!” The leaders said, getting inside of the van.

“Priority, rescuing the hostages,” Miguel says, loud and clear. “Get the camera right now!”

Miguel looks at the screen to see the view of the loading area filled with smoke.

“Attention, there’s some movement. People are walking out.”

“We have a clear shot, I repeat, we have a clear shot.”

“Those are hostages,” Miguel says, running towards a board with all of the pictures and names of the hostages inside the Fábrica.

“Awaiting confirmation.”

The Professor watches in panic as he can’t do anything.

* * *

A police car and an ambulance started to approach the site where Rodrigo was, his car tipped over while having trouble breathing.

_ You know when there’s a gridlock after a road accident is not due to the accident itself. It’s because the other car drivers stop to watch. They can’t help it. Because deep down we’re as basic as a moth attracted to light, like any insect that tries to escape when you trap it. _

The hostages start coughing as they exit the Fábrica.

The paramedics rushed to get Rodrigo out of the car to put him on a stretcher, he was unconscious.

“Confirmed, they are hostages! Confirmed! Start rescue protocol, I repeat, rescue protocol.” Miguel says and walks over to the screen once more, “I want a clean retrieval.”

The Professor starts to panic as he runs his hands through his hair, helpless.

“Move!” The SWAT team comes together to form a wide shield, approaching the hostages.

The hostages run towards them and run behind for cover.

The Professor grabs the phone to call, however, no one was there to answer.

“Come on, everyone needs to get out!”

“Move back!” 

They escort the hostages in the vans to get somewhere safe.

The Professor slams the phone down, frustrated.

“Move quick! Hurry!” The van drives off to the front to get to the tent.

“I want the medical team ready to tend to all of the hostages, now!” Miguel orders.

Kyoto comes down to check on what happened, the smoke still surrounding the area, he puts his mask on only to see the green lights from the sniper’s.

“Shit.” He whispers as he hides next to the hole the explosives made.

“He’s a robber! He’s wearing a Dalí mask!”

“Awaiting orders.”

“SWAT team, get ready.” Miguel says, “we’re going in.”

Seokjin was inside his car listening to the radio as he heard the latest news report.

“There has been a deflagration inside the Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre, and that between fifteen and sixteen hostages managed to escape. Their identity is yet unknown.”

Seokjin pulls over to the side and stops the car.

“And the latest news, Detective Rodrigo Lindez, one of the officers in charge of the crisis with the hostages, has been involved in a severe car accident on the M-506, from Getafe to Pinto, in Madrid. His vehicle skidded off the road and rolled over several times. The detective is receiving medical attention as of now and it’s unknown how his physical condition is. There are no related vehicles in this incident.”

“Fuck.” Seokjin starts the car and turns it around to go to the hospital.

  
  


Seokjin finds the room Rodrigo was in with the help of the receptionist, as he opens the door he sees Rodrigo’s wife, Ester, sitting next to him.

“What happened?”

“Apparently he was drinking… I spoke to the police and he called you sixteen times.”

Seokjin’s eyes widened.

“What happened? Huh? What did you say to him?”

“Nothing… I didn’t answer the phone.” Seokjin gulped.

“What happened between you two? He swerved as if he wanted to end it all.” Ester glares at him.

Seokjin stays silent.

Ester grabs her phone and shows him the footage of Rodrigo’s car flipping, “a friend of his in the traffic branch sent me this video.”

Seokjin watches.

“Tell me why my husband wanted to die.”

“I-I don’t know… things weren’t going well at work.” Seokjin says.

“At work? I’ve waited seven years… seven years for that one day he would stop loving you.” Ester’s voice breaks, “now, I’m waiting for him to wake up.” She faces Rodrigo as she cries.

“I’m sorry,” Seokjin whispers as he walks out of the room.

* * *

** _“Professor, you know you’re one of the few men who has treated me right? You and your plan.” Citadel punches him on the shoulder playfully._ **

** _The two were sitting next to each other in the living room, alone._ **

** _The Professor gives her a small smile._ **

** _“You know Jakarta told me that the plan wasn’t your idea…” _ **

** _The man looks at her and adjusts his glasses._ **

** _“But you didn’t tell her who’s it was…” Citadel whispers._ **

** _“It was from the most important person in my life…” the Professor nods, “I was a sick child you know? Even till I was a teenager. I was bedridden in the hospital for many years, just reading books to myself.”_ **

** _Citadel nods and pays attention._ **

** _“My father used to tell me stories about the robbery films he had seen.”_ **

** _Citadel raises her eyebrows, “damn, he told you that instead of the Ugly Duckling, huh?” She chuckles._ **

** _The Professor does the same, “yeah… then one day, he told me the most extraordinary one… ‘Did you know that money is made by a machine?’ He asked me, then I told him no… ‘don’t forget that someone could come in the Money House and make as much money as they want without stealing from anyone, do you understand?’” He smiles from his memory._ **

** _Citadel nods._ **

** _“That day he was shot multiple times at the doors of the Hispano Americano bank.”_ **

** _“I’m sorry about that.” Citadel whispers._ **

** _“He didn’t tell me about the plot of any film, he was narrating his own robberies… you can make your dreams come true without hurting anyone.”_ **

* * *

“Hurry!” Kyoto shouts.

Resita, Accra, and Sucre carrying a huge thick wall of steel.

“Sir, there is movement inside.”

“They are closing the entrance.”

“Fire.” Miguel orders.

The SWAT team begins to fire as the three men try to hold the wall up.

“Get the pole!” Kyoto shouts, helping them, “We need to get some poles to make a buttress!”

The Professor watches in horror, anxious as his heart continues to beat rapidly.

Accra lets go of his side, Resita covering for him.

“Hurry!” Kyoto shouts.

“And Arad! Find Arad!” Resita shouts.

The SWAT team continues to fire multiple bullets.

“Remove that cart out of the way!” Kyoto tells Resita.

Resita struggles to move the huge cart away.

“FUCK! KYOTO I CAN’T HOLD IT!!!” Sucre shouts, struggling to keep the wall up.

“Get down!” Cairo shouts, Jakarta and Citadel following him with their guns.

Sucre slips and lets go of his side, causing the heavy steel to fall down.

Resita gets hit by the bullets.

“RESITA!” Citadel screams, taking cover.

Resita groans as Kyoto helps him get out of the SWAT team’s fire.

“RESITA! ANSWER ME!” Citadel screams, panicking.

“EVERYONE TAKE COVER!” Cairo shouts, pulling Jakarta next to him.

The Professor’s breath starts to pick up, tears threatening to fall.

“Kyoto! Catch this!” Sucre takes his rifle off and tosses it to the other side, where Kyoto was hiding.

“I’m going to check on Resita! Cover me!” Citadel says, getting ready.

“Covering fire! Be ready!” Cairo aims, Jakarta right behind him, “three, two, one, Fire!”

“Jesus Christ!” Citadel shoots, avoiding the bullets given by the SWAT team, her heartbeat racing as her teammates cover her.

“Resita?!” Citadel unzips his jumpsuit, “you’re okay! The vest stopped the bullet. You’re not wounded.”

Resita groans and holds her hand.

“Kyoto! I need help!” Sucre shouts as more people shoot at his area.

“SWAT teams, throw the smoke to get in.” Miguel orders.

“Covering fire now!”

“Fuck!” Sucre says, his palms sweating.

“Cover your ears!” Cairo says.

The number of bullets irritating their eardrums, the gunshots echoed deafeningly in the confines of the loading area.

“Throw the smoke at my command. Now!”

The smoke grenade lands next to Cairo and Jakarta.

“The SWAT has thermal imaging equipment, that smoke will only block our sight! Take it away!” Cairo shouts.

Kyoto grabs his gloves and gets the smoke grenade.

“Cairo! They’re planning to go in, we need to get that wall back up, now!” Kyoto says, getting ready to throw the grenade outside.

“Everyone get ready! We’re covering Kyoto!” Cairo screams.

“Move forward!” Miguel orders.

The SWAT team forms another shield in an attempt to get inside.

“Fire!” Cairo orders.

“Cairo, they’re coming closer! They’re getting in!” Sucre shouts.

Jakarta starts to breathe deeply, “cover me, Cover me!” She tells Cairo as she runs back shooting as she goes.

She approaches the back of the loading room, uncovering the machine gun. “Cairo! Watch out!” She runs towards everyone as she pushes the machine gun.

Cairo runs towards Sucre, helping the other shoot.

“They have a machine gun!” The SWAT team immediately ran back for cover.

Jakarta screams in anguish as she continues to shoot at everyone until they go back.

“Everyone take cover! They’re using big calibre.” Miguel shouts at the radio.

“The cover! Get it up!” Jakarta shouts as the machine gun runs out of ammo.

Cairo, Sucre, Kyoto, and Citadel rush to lift the wall back up.

“Let’s go! Hurry!” Kyoto says as he puts his welding mask on and tosses one to Sucre.

Accra comes back down with the poles in his hand.

“Jakarta, hold the poles up! Citadel and I will drill these down.” Cairo says, handing Citadel another drill as they reinforce the wall to make a buttress.

Jakarta stands in the middle holding it up as Kyoto and Sucre weld the wall shut.

“Where is Arad?!” Resita shakes Accra.

“I don't know! I haven’t seen him! I was busy getting the poles.” Accra replies, panicking.

Resita lets him go and runs, his heart rate picking up only to find his cousin in the boiler room, dead. 

Blood leaves Arad’s head as he lies there still.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> phew,,


	13. "If things go wrong... you'll run away,"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Professor meets Seokjin’s mother under stressful circumstances. At the Fábrica, the thieves offer the hostages a decision, money or freedom?

SUNDAY 11:40 PM

The haunting one-note rings from the telephone continuously gets louder and louder as the Professor tried to gather himself, he knew it was his team, the team who almost died and got captured during their showdown with the SWAT team. 

The Professor doesn’t blink, eyes wide open as he stares at the security camera in the staff room, he could sense all of the emotions in the room. The anger, panic, misery, and betrayal across their faces. 

His hands slowly hover over the telephone before picking it up.

“Where were you?” Sucre asked, his hand on his hip, he turns around and faces the camera, “WHERE THE FUCK WERE YOU?!”

62ND HOUR OF THE ROBBERY

“He’s down! He’s down! Please, help!” Resita pants as he carries Arad, the body limp with bandages wrapped around his head, Resita tries to keep him alive.

Sucre’s expression drops, setting the phone down, “What happened?”

“Strong hit, brain injury,” Resita says.

The Professor watches in horror, as the rest of the robbers gather around the cousins.

“When hostages left, they did this. Sucre, did you know about the escape?” Resita looks at him, angry.

Sucre was still in shock as his eyes water, “I…” He looks at Cairo for support, not knowing what to say.

“Resita, how about we take care of Arad first.” Cairo puts a hand on his shoulder, he doesn’t want to look at Arad’s body, which is lying on the couch.

“No! Sucre, which hostage did the escape?” Resita asks, trying to be calm.

“S-Seung Hyun told me about it, but… I didn’t get there in time.” Sucre gulps.

Citadel puts her hand to her mouth as she tries to stop herself from crying, Kyoto walks to her and hugs her.

“Seung Hyun,” Resita whispers vengefully.

Cairo collects himself and opens Arad’s eyes, it doesn’t move.

“Seung Hyun,” Resita repeats as he clenches his hands in a fist.

“Resita, Arad is… not well.” Cairo looks at Resita in the eyes.

“No.” He shakes his head.

“He’s badly injured,” Cairo says calmly.

“No. He’s not, he just needs to rest and get medicine.” Resita nods.

Cairo gives the other space as he goes next to Sucre, who was tearing up.

“I will just give him anti-inflammatories and heparin,” Resita says, smiling.

Cairo nods as he takes a deep breath, looking away.

Kyoto approaches Resita to rub his back.

“Kyoto, don’t worry too. Arad and I have gone through worse colds than this one.”

Kyoto smiles at him and hugs him.

* * *

_ As Arad’s eyes never twinkled, it took a toll on how we looked, sad and absent. Hope is like dominoes, once one falls, the others follow. Now the hostages noticed we were fucked.  _

Jakarta sits on top of the stairs, watching Accra as he collects trash from the hostages.

“Last night we heard the shots, is anyone injured?” Mercedes asked, shifting in her seat, looking at Accra as she threw her cup in the bag.

Accra passes by her and continues to clean up.

Mercedes stands up, “I won’t shut my mouth anytime soon, is anyone injured?”

Jakarta glares at her, walking down the stairs.

Accra goes in front of Mercedes, “sit down.” He orders.

“No. One of my pupils is missing, Calvin Ruiz. I want to know where he is.” 

Seung Hyun hides his face, he takes a deep breath.

“Sit down.” 

Mercedes doesn’t move, still looking at Accra.

“I said, sit down!” He raises his voice, Mercedes flinches as she sits back down. “Your student escaped last night with other hostages. They blew out the gate with explosives and ran, you don’t have to worry about anyone.” He walks away.

Mercedes tears up as she slowly stands up to clap her hands out of respect.

“The fuck are you doing?” Jakarta asks.

“Mercedes, sit down,” Accra orders her.

The woman ignores him as she continues to clap louder, looking directly at Jakarta.

Not a second passed, one by one, each hostage started to stand up, clapping along with her.

Accra loses control over everyone and aims his gun at Mercedes, “make everyone stop, right now.”

She continues to ignore him, the applause slowly becoming louder and louder.

Jakarta points her gun into the air and shoots the ceiling.

Hostages immediately scream and put their hands to their ears.

“Everyone, sit down.” She says with an annoyed look on her face.

The hostages slowly sit down, except for Mercedes who’s still looking at her.

“Sit down.”

Mercedes starts to shake, her eyes wavering.

“Sit down, please,” Jakarta whispers, her eyes watering.

The older woman slowly sits down.

  
  


** _The sound of bullets hitting the metal continuously is music to Resita’s ears as he watches Kyoto practicing to shoot a rifle._ **

** _Kyoto stops shooting and looks behind him, “How about that, Resita? Was it good?” He grins._ **

** _“Relax the elbows more, and do it again.” Resita smiles, crossing his arms._ **

** _“W-Would you wear a thong to make the jumpsuits fit better? Your ass just out.” Citadel asks Sucre._ **

** _“I don’t think the thong could handle what I’m packing.” Sucre winks obnoxiously._ **

** _“He doesn’t even have an ass,” Jakarta whispers, taking a drink._ **

** _“Excuse me?!” Sucre leans back, offended._ **

** _“Okay, so you’re robbing the hostages with nothing underneath? Cock just hanging out?” Citadel waves her hand in the air, curious._ **

** _“I’m just saying, if I do happen to forget to bring underwear, then so be it.” Sucre raises both hands, shrugging._ **

** _“That’s disgusting.” Accra rolls his eyes as he stands up to help Arad with the barbecue. _ **

** _“Try it in sweatpants, young one.” Cairo pats his back, adjusting his hat due to the Sun hitting his eyes._ **

** _“You wear sweatpants?!” Sucre shouts, his mouth hanging in shock._ **

** _Everyone was eating outside, cooking more food as others practiced their shooting skills._ **

** _“Cairo would probably wear a suit underneath the jumpsuits, right?” Citadel looks at him._ **

** _“Let’s just not wear anything altogether, how about that?” Sucre offered._ **

** _“No!” Accra whines, as he takes a drink._ **

** _The Professor slowly approaches the table as he cleans his glasses, he sits down._ **

** _“Everyone, be quiet.” Citadel scolds._ **

** _“You all should expect that as time progresses, the hostages will stop being compliant. When they see that there isn’t any progress, their survival instinct will make them do something.” The Professor says, putting his glasses back on._ **

** _Citadel scoffs, “They can’t do anything, right?”_ **

** _“They’ll try to escape, or they will escape.” _ **

** _The table starts to disagree, “but we are armed.” Sucre says._ **

** _“It’s possible. They can, and at that point, other hostages will stop fearing us. If that happens, it’s extremely important to regain control and in that case, we’ll do it by using empathy.”_ **

** _Cairo nods as he raises his glass of wine in the air._ **

** _“Creating an atmosphere of much more solid trust that the one we’ve had until that moment.” _ **

** _Kyoto starts to shoot again, the loud bullets distracting the people at the table._ **

** _“But trust and M-16s don’t exactly go together, don’t they?” Jakarta asks, making a face._ **

** _“Then we’ll have to find things that bring us closer to the hostages. Let’s see, what brings people together?” The Professor looks at everyone._ **

** _“Football!” Sucre shouts._ **

** _Everyone chuckles._ **

** _“Hey, football is a great idea,” the Professor acknowledges Sucre as he bows, “but there’s another thing that brings people together, more than football.”_ **

** _“Sex?” Jakarta asks, shrugging._ **

** _The males laugh like children, as the Professor gives a shy smile, “well, sex brings couples together.”_ **

** _“It can be more than just two people.” Jakarta leans back._ **

** _“W-Well, yeah there are threesomes, f-foursomes… and even structures of groups.”_ **

** _Sucre hides his laugh, and Jakarta smiles, “Structures.”_ **

** _“Th-That is not part of our plan… sex.” The Professor clarifies._ **

** _“Thank goodness, with my luck, in an orgy I might have Resita behind me.” Kyoto points at the taller with a grin._ **

** _Everyone laughs except Sucre, “Hey! I don’t need to know that.” He pouts._ **

** _“But, Professor, what unites people more than sex then?” Citadel asks._ **

** _“What do we all have in common?” He asks her._ **

** _“Well, as much as I slowly came to like everyone here… I’m in it for the money.” Citadel says slowly._ **

** _The Professor points at her, “money. We might not have lots of things now, but we would have a shit ton of money by the end of this… and I’ve given it a lot of thought, about turning our hostages into our business partners.”_ **

** _Everyone stays quiet, listening to him carefully._ **

** _“I’ve come to the conclusion… money or freedom?”_ **

And just like that, Cairo and Citadel put themselves to work, talking to every hostage and persuading them.

“Have you ever thought of putting a price to yourself?” Cairo asks, spinning right to left as he leans back in his chair.

Mercedes was taken aback.

“I’m in!” Escamilla grins as he enthusiastically leans forward to Citadel.

Citadel points a finger at him from behind her desk, “think it over Mister Escamilla, you still have two hours.”

“But I don’t need to think it over.”

“I’m talking about the pain, the  _ pain  _ we’re causing you.” Cairo continues dramatically.

“I’ve been working here my whole life, and nothing compares to the joy I have experienced right now!” The old man smiles.

Citadel looks at him fondly.

“What would be a hostage’s minimum salary?” Cairo asks, leaning forward.

Mercedes only looks at him.

“Because I personally thought of a million euros, tax-free.” He shrugs.

“You won’t fool me. I know how this thing works.” Seung Hyun spats at Cairo.

“Oh really?” Cairo smiles.

“You know how hard it is, and you know that your profession is something that’s in your blood. I’ve never had a boss like you, Miss Citadel. You have always treated me so nicely, and somehow you are still able to motivate everyone even if you are tired. You put us first before you.” Escamilla nods.

Citadel watches him, touched, with tears glistening in her eyes.

“It’s either that or the second option.”

“What’s the second option?” Seung Hyun asks.

“Leave. With nothing.” Cairo shrugs.

“Just like that?” Yoongi asks.

“Yeah, man. But I’m telling you, you don’t get anything.” Citadel looks at him.

“How will we get a million euros out of here? Hm?” Seung Hyun looks at Cairo, “inside our underwear?”

Cairo rests his head on his hand, “you give me the address of a friend, maybe a cousin… and I’ll make sure you receive an envelope with your money in five or six months.”

“That’s after we all get out of here, please think it through. It’s very different to raise your daughter with a million euros inside your wallet.” Citadel nods.

Yoongi looks at her.

“So…” Mercedes looks at Cairo.

“Freedom?” Citadel asks.

“Or money?” Cairo leans back in his chair, “one million.” He whispers, his lips forming into a smirk.

* * *

“There was a camera at the bathroom’s entrance.” Jacinto points at the blueprint, he sits next to Hugo, Miguel, and two other staff members.

“There’s another one on this corridor as well.”

“So you're saying that apart from the building cameras, they have installed more,” Miguel says.

“Yes, and they looked different from the others.” Jacinto nods.

“Um, we were digging a tunnel for them. It was in the basement, there was a lot of ammunition, enough for war,” Calvin looks at the camera as they recorded him, “there were boxes of bullets and explosives.”

Hugo puts out three pictures of the robbers in front of Jacinto.

“Yeah, these three were there. In total there were eight of them, two of them were actual foreigners, I think. They weren’t fluent in Spanish.”

“Could you say that any of them were the Professor?” Miguel asks, calmly.

“Professor? No. None of them had that name,” Jacinto shakes his head, “they had cities for names. This one is Cairo.”

“Kyoto and Sucre, they might be related.” Calvin continues.

“Citadel,” Jacinto says.

“Resita, he was a big guy.” Calvin nods.

“Accra, he was the least dangerous. He might be the youngest one.” Jacinto guesses.

“He was watching Lisa, away from the others.” Calvin picks up Accra’s photo.

Miguel looks at Hugo.

“So Lisa is not with the hostages all the time?” Hugo asked.

Calvin nods.

“One of the foreigners is injured… maybe dead. We hit him on the head with a pipe. His name is Arad.” Jacinto confesses, nervous.

Seokjin comes inside the tent, slowly.

“Thank you, you may rest now. You can also have a coffee, maybe something to eat.” Hugo nods.

Jacinto slowly stands up from his chair.

“Santiago, please escort him outside,” Miguel says, the police officer walks with Jacinto outside.

“Seokjin, here. Have a seat,” Miguel pulls a chair for Seokjin as he stands up to get an item inside a ziplock, “these are Rodrigo’s glasses. This is something we find in it, a microphone, Keylock 20-10 with an audio range of a thousand five hundred metres. They probably did it when he went in with the paramedics, so Rodrigo is not the traitor.”

Seokjin gulps, chills coming up from his spine.

“Seokjin, I know what you’re thinking, but you were just doing your job. Any of us would have done the same.” Miguel says.

Seokjin continues to look at the glasses, not paying attention to them as he dissociates.

“All the evidence pointed to him, and I was wrong,” Hugo says.

“THE SECOND IN CHARGE OF THE HEIST CRISIS OF THE FÁBRICA DE MONEDA Y TIMBRE IN A COMA AFTER HAVING A CAR ACCIDENT” The headline read, as the Professor puts his head down in guilt and anger, he puts his glasses down, looking at the punching bag in the corner of the room.

He pours all of his anger out as he starts to punch all the pent up frustrations he has experienced in the last few hours.

In Seokjin’s house, his mother was busy folding the laundry and heard the phone beeping continuously. She approaches it and picks it up.

“ _ You have one voice message _ .”

“ _ Seokjin! Call me, your voice mailbox is full. We have him!” The car starts to swerve more and more, “we have the guy who’s been helping the robbers outside. _ ” It was Rodrigo’s message.

She grabs a sticky note and starts to write down the information as best as she could.

“ _ It’s Salva! SALVA!!! THE GUY WHO MAKES CIDER! It’s him, Seokjin. Him. He was in the junkyard, he threatened the Russian guy, for fuck’s sake. He’s using you! His fingerprints were in the patrol car. He’s only with you to learn about the investigation! _ ” The message ends.

She grabs her phone to call her son.

“ _ Hello, this is Seokjin speaking. I can’t answer your call right now. If it’s urgent, leave your message after the beep. _ ”

“Seokjin, I—”

“ _ The voice mailbox of the number you have dialled is full. _ ”

“Rodrigo was calling me all evening but I didn’t pick up his phone calls,” Seokjin says, his voice raspy and tired, “he called me sixteen times, and I didn’t answer once.”

Miguel stands up and goes to a worker, “lower the volume or turn it off, the Inspector needs to listen to private messages.”

“ _ Jin, it’s me, Rodrigo. I’m asking you to reconsider. I know you’re mad and I understand why. This is not the first time we fought, right? I know I was being an asshole but I’m not a traitor, I swear I’m not, for fuck sake. You screwed me over, Jin, so fucking bad, give me a call. _ ” Rodrigo slurred as Seokjin tears up, he can see what happened in front of him. Rodrigo drunk, getting inside the car.

“ _ Jin, why the hell are you not answering me? After fifteen years of working with you like a fucking fool. It’s not to get closer to you to… no. _ ”

Seokjin hears the faint voice of someone telling him to follow the speed limit.

“ _ i-it’s because of our friendship, the love we had, for fucking love. Listen to me Seokjin, you’re a bitch. Do you hear me? A selfish and obsessive bitch! Not even Hugo would fuck _ —”

Seokjin ends the phone call, he doesn’t want to cry in front of everyone. He sits there, thinking about the car crash.

_ How many punches can you take before falling on the floor? If you are Kim Seokjin, many. But there’s something wrong in being good at rolling with the punches. _

Seokjin stands up and leaves the tent, walking up to the Fábrica.

“Attention, Inspector Kim is approaching the front wall.” An officer reports.

Miguel turns around.

_ If the punches don’t cease, you’ll end up falling down the same. And if you fall down, it’ll be as all the punches were received at the same time. _

Miguel and Hugo, along with other officers run outside.

“Seokjin! SEOKJIN!!!” Hugo shouts, running after him.

Seokjin pulls the caution barriers up to let himself near the Fábrica.

_ Seokjin stopped hearing, stopped thinking as he kept walking. It was an empty body searching for all that to end. _

Resita looks out the window and sees Seokjin standing in front of the Fábrica, he aims his gun, a red dot hovers on top of Seokjin’s forehead.

“Seokjin!” Miguel shouts, he and the Colonel run to get him back. Miguel steps in front of him, the red dot hovered above as he pushes Seokjin away, Hugo pulling the both of them to safety as two policemen trailed behind them.

* * *

“Excuse me, I didn’t quite understand.” Ariadna shakes her head.

“You can leave here, or get money,” Cairo repeats.

“Just leave? With no circumstance?”

“Just leave.” Cairo nods.

“I’ll leave then. I-I want to leave.”

Cairo breathes out of relief, “good, that’s good.”

“I have to leave,” Yoongi says.

Sucre looks at him, eyes filled with sorrow.

“You know why… the baby’s on the way and this.” He points to his thigh.

“I-Is the million euros not enough? If you want more, just tell me and I’ll try to convince Citadel because she handles all the money.” Sucre holds his hand, “with that money you and your baby could leave happily ever after.”

“But if the wound becomes more dangerous and I end up limping—”

“And if that happens we will work on it. You don’t need to expect the worst all the time… aren’t you okay here? You’ve got your own bedroom, Min Yoongi’s Presidential suite, don’t you think?” Sucre looks around the vault.

Yoongi chuckles.

“Y-You might even miss us… when you go.” Sucre looks down at their hands.

“And why do you want me to stay?” Yoongi asks, looking at his eyes.

Sucre looks up and stayed silent, “I—”

“You didn’t fall in love, did you?”

Sucre looked at him and soon went back to looking down.

“Seriously? That’s not true, is it? Look at me.” Yoongi gently holds Sucre’s face up.

“So what if I’m serious?” Sucre’s tone drops.

“Let’s see, you can’t fall in love in sixty hours.” Yoongi leans back.

“W-Well, in sixty hours I shot you, extracted the bullet. Found out your ex is pregnant, waiting at a hospital, and you're worried because you might not be there the moment your daughter is born, so you asked for adoption papers just in case. You were debating on breaking up with Seung Hyun. Had sex with me… If you give me twenty-four hours, I might ask you to marry me. W-Who knows maybe after another twenty-four hours we’d get a divorce. What the fuck does time matter inside here?”

“Alright.”

“Alright, what?”

“I’ll stay.”

“You…” A tear escapes Sucre’s eye.

“But to get married, you’ll have to give me a little more time.” Yoongi smiles.

* * *

The Professor’s cell phone rings as he wipes his sweat away with a towel, “Hello?”

“Yes, hello? This is Seokjin’s mother, I remember the last time that I rang this phone and you gave it to my son. There is a very important message that I received, but I couldn’t call Seokjin right now. I’m wondering if it’s okay for you to pass on the message?” 

“Of course, I will be meeting him later in the day.” The Professor smiles.

“Okay, um, the message said, we got him, we got the man who has been helping the robbers outside,” she reads nervously, “it’s the man who makes the cider, he has the same fingerprint as the one who went in the police car, the one who threatened the Russian man.”

The Professor holds his breath, staring into the wall, not moving.

“D-Did you get to write that down?”

“Y-Yes. Yes, I did, I will get that message to him as soon as I can.”

“Thank you so much.”

_ The Professor had built a plan down to the last millimetre. Each movement of the police, any possible mistake from his gang, the hostages’ behavior, each variable in the equation to success. Now once he thought everything was under his control, he found out that it wasn’t the case. It would have never crossed his mind that to avoid the whole plan going down the toilet, he would have to kill.  _

As the Professor hangs up he starts to lose control of his breathing, trying to ground himself as he walks around the room, as his hand shakes in panic. The veins in his neck pop out, strained.

_ Kill the mother of the man he was falling in love with. And of course, no one was prepared for that. _

He couldn’t carry himself any longer as he kneels to the ground and cries.

* * *

“Have you already spoken to the hostages? What did they say?” Seokjin asked.

“Well, it’s confirmed that they're building a tunnel. Now we are trying to find out the location,” Miguel walks towards him, “and that they are armed to the teeth, but we know that already.”

Seokjin looks at him, clearly not in the right mindset.

“Seokjin, we all know you are the most highly qualified to lead this case, but it’s about time you had a rest.” Miguel pats his back and walks away.

“Don’t worry about anything,” Hugo pulls a chair in front of Seokjin, “the superintendent is on his way to substitute you. Go home to your family and sleep, even if it’s just for a few hours.”

“Can I make a call?” Seokjin asks.

“Sure, we’ll leave you alone.” Hugo nods and walks out of the tent.

The Professor’s cell phone rings once again, he struggles to get back up as he wipes his tears, trying to calm himself down, he is able to walk towards his desk to answer the call.

“Salva? It’s Jin, I need you to come over to the tent and get me out of here. This is the worst day of my life, I have to get away from here.” Seokjin says in a hushed voice, about to break down.

“I can’t. I have something to do.” He says, emotionless.

“Sure… I—” the call ends, as the Professor leaves Seokjin hanging. 

The Inspector looks at the phone in distraught.

  
  


The doorbell rings a pleasant sound as Seokjin’s mother opens the door, it was the Professor. He was dressed in a casual suit under an overcoat, he looked way less stressed and anxious compared to what he looked like a few moments ago.

“Hello.” He bowed politely as he scratched his head.

“Hi, how may I help you?” She asked with a smile.

“Um, I’m Salva, your son’s… friend. We spoke on the phone.”

“Oh! Yes, yes, of course. Come in.” She opens the door wider as he lets himself in, his smile drops as his face turns away from the woman, eyes shifting.

  
  


Cairo shines a flashlight over Arad’s eyes, as Citadel gently holds his head up.

Cairo asked, “he’s not reacting.”

Resita puts Arad back to lying down on the sofa.

“I don’t want to be pessimistic but I’m afraid that the head trauma gave his irreversible damage,” Cairo says as he clenches his jaw.

“Don’t say that, if we give him medical attention, he can still survive. He needs to go to the hospital.” Citadel says, raising her voice.

“The Professor said no one goes out.”

“I don’t give a damn about the Professor! Where was he when sixteen hostages escaped? Huh? Where was he when they hit Arad’s head?” 

Accra sits and watches the two nervously, Jakarta beside him.

“We are opening those doors and calling the police to let the paramedics come and take him out,” Citadel says.

“The fuck are you talking about? The rules were clear, no one goes out. If Arad goes out then he risks the chances of going to jail,” Cairo points at Arad, “everyone agreed that no one goes out, Arad as well.”

“Sixteen hostages have escaped. The rules are different now.” Jakarta challenges.

“The hostages don’t know what’s happening here, Arad does,” Cairo says.

“And Arad can’t speak, even if he could, he wouldn’t talk to the police and betray us. Let’s vote on it.” Accra stands up.

“This is not a democracy.” Cairo points his gun to Citadel.

“No, it isn’t.” Citadel grabs her gun and points it to Cairo, Accra, and Jakarta doing the same. “We open the doors, and let Arad out.”

“No one is leaving.” Cairo cocks his gun.

“Cairo.” Jakarta glares.

“Three of you put your gun down,” Resita says sternly, “Arad is not leaving.” He grabs Citadel’s gun and puts it down. 

Cairo puts his gun back to his holster.

“Me talk to Arad before entering. Wounds don’t matter. Death first before prison. You understand?” Resita asks Citadel.

She nods slowly.

“I take care of Arad. So no fighting.” He looks at the three before nodding to Cairo. He sits back down next to Arad.

  
  


“I must say, you have a very beautiful house.” The Professor says as he watches the clock tick carefully.

“Thank you. Um, well Seokjin hasn’t come home yet, poor thing is stressing so much about work.” She shakes her head sadly.

The Professor nods as he looks at her, an awkward silence.

“I was drinking coffee when you came, would you like some too?” She points at the dinner table, her cup still steaming.

“Oh, I wouldn’t want to be a bother.”

“It would only take me a few minutes, go ahead, make yourself comfortable.” She smiles.

The Professor is not going to make himself comfortable any time soon, he pulled out a chair and sat down stiffly, he focused on the clock’s ticking.

_ There are ten thousand ways to kill an elderly woman, but the Professor was no hitman. He was more of a chess player for whom the world of crime was too big. _

He looks at Seokjin’s mom, waiting for the water to heat up.

_ So he chose a cleaner and more intelligent option. Pour two point five milligrams of dioxin into the old lady’s coffee, wait until the cardiac arrest occurs due to the drug then vanish. _

He was about to pour the drug into her coffee at the end of the table when she turned around, he sat back down.

“Do you want some sugar?” She asks.

“Yes please, three teaspoons.” He smiles nervously.

“You have a sweet tooth, huh?” She giggles as she grabs the container of sugar.

_ Two coffees, three with a spoonful of sugar and one of dioxin. In fifteen minutes, she would have a heart attack. In thirty minutes, Seokjin would find his mother’s body. In an hour, a coroner would authorize the removal of the body as it was a cardiovascular heart attack. No signs of violence, just a heart attack at the victim’s age with the door closed inside her home. There would be no autopsy, and the Professor knew it. _

“Here you go.” She smiles as she sets the coffee on his side of the table.

“Thank you.” He nods.

_ Clean and simple. _

She sits down and blows on her hot coffee, “you know, my son didn’t come home last night.” She smiles.

The Professor looks at her with wide eyes.

“Was there any chance that he was with you?” She raises her eyebrows with a grin.

“W-Well, yes. We met up yesterday.” He stuttered, looking down at his coffee as he stirred the spoon.

“Did… you two make love?”

He drops the spoon on the plate, “um…” He looks at her nervously, “well, yes…”

“Good,” She leans back to her chair, “sorry for prying into your personal life, but my son desperately needs to be loved and someone to make love to him.” She puts her cup down, “that kid needs a new thing going on in his life that is not about work.” She reaches for his hand and pats it, “and lucky for him, you are a good man.”

The Professor looks at her hand and she leans back to grab her cup.

“I can see it in your eyes… deep down, you are a good man.” She nods as she raises the cup to her lips.

The Professor stopped paying attention to the clock and shouted, “No!”

She jolts as she drops the cup to the floor, the glass shattering with coffee spilt everywhere.

The Professor’s breath quickens as he looks at her, anxious.

She looks at him, shocked, “my goodness, I dropped the cup. This is what happens when you get older, you can’t grip things as you used to.” She shakes her head as she stands up to clean the mess.

  
  


Seung Hyun was escorted by Accra to go into the staff room, the older seeing Arad’s body as Resita sits next to him.

“I-I’m very sorry about—”

“You know about the escape,” Resita says.

“No.” Seung Hyun shakes his head.

“Sucre told me, you know about the escape.” He stands up, towering over Seung Hyun.

“I just hinted at something, I didn’t know about it. I asked Sucre to help.” Seung Hyun gulps, as he sees Resita grab a pipe, dragging it to the ground with an irritating noise.

“They hit him with this pipe, at the back of the head. They escaped,” Resita says, his grip tightens, “Arad is my friend. Me and Arad together in war, together in peace, together in robberies, together in prison. Arad is my friend, Do you understand Seung Hyun?”

Seung Hyun gulps, closing his eyes from nervousness.

“On your knees.” 

Seung Hyun looks at him with tears in his eyes. Resita points to the ground as he continues to look at Seung Hyun, staring unwaveringly.

He kneels down and closes his eyes, “Do you think us hostages wouldn’t try to escape? That we wouldn’t defend ourselves? While you continue to abuse us? Rape us? Kill us? If you're going to kill me, make sure to hit me hard, because if you don’t I will kill you.”

Resita stares him down.

  
  


“Could you hand me over the dustpan and the mop on the corner, please?” 

The Professor stands up as he walks to get the materials, he stops and sees what the woman has written about the voicemail, next to it, a bunch of sticky notes and little reminders of who she is.

‘ _ I don’t live in Gyeonggi Province anymore, I live in Madrid. _ ’

‘ _ I have a son and a daughter. _ ’

‘ _ Seokjin may be very busy, but he loves me very much.’ _

_ ‘Seokjin works as an Inspector.’ _

“Excuse me, may I use the phone?” The Professor asks.

“Of course! It’s over there by the counter.” She smiles as she cleans up the mess.

He grabs the phone carefully and the voicemail plays again.

“ _ Seokjin! Call me, your voice mailbox is full. We have him!” The car starts to swerve more and more, “we have the guy who’s been helping the robbers outside. _ ”

He calmly listens to the message as he watches Seokjin’s mother mop the floor.

“ _ It’s Salva! SALVA!!! THE GUY WHO MAKES CIDER! It’s him, Seokjin. Him. He was in the junkyard, he threatened the Russian guy, for fuck’s sake. He’s using you! His fingerprints were in the patrol car. He’s only with you to learn about the investigation! _ ”

“ _ To hear the message again, press one. To delete it, press two. To save it, press _ —”

The Professor puts the phone away from his ear and presses the number two.

“ _ Message deleted. There are no more messages _ .”

He puts the phone down, “no one was answering.” He chuckles.

“Mom! I’m home.” Seokjin says tiringly, taking his coat off and putting it on the hanger. He turns around to see the Professor smiling at him.

“Salva? What are you doing here?”

“This is the thing I had to do… I bought flowers.” He showed a small bouquet with an awkward smile.

Seokjin pulls him in for a tight hug.

“Isn’t he adorable? He told me already, you two made love.” Seokjin’s mother laughs from the kitchen.

“Mom!”

“W-Well I didn’t say it directly but she caught on.” The Professor scratched his head.

“How about I make something and we can all eat?” She smiles.

  
  


“This is, in fact, the best soup I’ve ever had though! It’s much better than the one my brother and I made.” The Professor nods as Seokjin’s mother giggles, “you flatter me too much.” 

She looks at her son who wasn’t eating at all, “Seokjin, don’t play with your food. My goodness, it’s his work, it’s too stressful with the kidnapping.” She shakes her head, “Have you been keeping up with it?”

“I have, I’ve seen it on the news and articles, there was a shooting last night. Those people are armed to the teeth.” The Professor nods.

Seokjin continues to look down on his food, his mind trying to connect pieces of the robbery.

“ _ They have at least three M-16s. _ ” From the shooting before the proofs of life.

“ _ They have a Browning machine gun. _ ” From the first night and the same one they used recently.

Seokjin looks at the Professor.

“ _ Cabenuva… has been an unusual demand in Toledo. _ ”

“ _ and over here, in Palomeque, on October eighteenth. _ ”

“ _ Just three days before they went inside the Fábrica. _ ”

Seokjin stands up, “excuse me, mom, I need to make a phone call.”

“Seokjin.” His mom looks at him as he continues to walk towards his room.

The Professor looks at him, not sure if he should follow or stay.

“Miguel, put me on speakers.” Seokjin orders.

“Connect my mobile to the loudspeakers. We have communication with the Inspector.”

“Listen to me everyone, I want information about all the rural estates where hunting is allowed within a hundred kilometres distance from the pharmacy in Palomeque,” Seokjin says.

“I want a map of Toledo now, perimetre of Palomeque.” Miguel orders the officers.

“If they bought the medicines there, it means that they were close. I can’t believe I didn’t think about it sooner. They needed a place where they could organize it, where they could prepare their plan step by step.” Seokjin continues, not realizing the Professor slowly walking towards his room.

“They had to do target practice before entering the Fábrica, somewhere where the shots and detonations wouldn’t raise any alarms.” The Professor hears this outside his door.

“I want some units canvassing the perimeter of Palomeque within a hundred kilometres, I want them now!” Miguel orders all of the police officers, running to their cars.

“It must be a hundred hectares, rural estate,” Seokjin says.

“Look up the documentation, hurry,” Miguel tells a worker.

“Call me when you find something.” Seokjin closes his eyes.

“Of course,” he hangs up, “you heard the Inspector, we have no time to waste, let’s get the robbers. That estate, those units, I want it now!”

The Professor knocks on the door.

“Yes?” Seokjin asked, sitting down on his bed.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, you can come in.”

The Professor opens the door and lets himself in the room slowly, sitting next to him.

“I’m just a bit tired.” Seokjin smiles softly, leaning his head to the Professor’s shoulder.

* * *

Citadel slowly drags a marker across the floor with the hostages on the left side of the room. Jakarta was near the stairs, on guard.

“Now is the time for you to choose between being accomplices and getting a million euros in the mailbox, or leave.” Jakarta says, looking at the hostages, “Freedom or money?”

“If you stay with us ‘till the end, you  _ will _ get the money in an air-tight bag.” Citadel smiles.

“If you want to leave, go cross the line,” Jakarta says.

One by one, each hostage slowly walks across.

** _“What will we do if they want freedom?” Jakarta asks._ **

** _“You’ll take them downstairs, in the Fábrica’s basement and lock them up. I know it’s terrible but no one gets out. Those are the ones that could actually try to rise up and rebel against us, and I need to protect you.” The Professor says, looking at all of them._ **

“Why can’t I choose to leave?” Lisa asks Citadel.

“You already tried, so you can’t do it anymore.” Citadel crosses her arms as she continues to watch the hostages cross.

“You’re our top hostage, sweetheart.” Jakarta shrugs.

Cairo looks at them from the stairs, clicking his tongue to the beat of the clock, looking at Ariadna.

She crosses the line and avoids his gaze.

Mercedes stopped some students who wanted to cross, she had a bad feeling.

“Time is ticking, either you leave or you stay,” Citadel says, rounding up the hostages.

“Those who want to leave, put your hands on your head, move forward to the loading area.” Jakarta orders.

_ What the Professor had gained was to divide the hostages into those who would become our partners and those who could still complicate things. At least that’s what we thought. _

Seung Hyun looks at Mercedes who is still nervous.

  
  


Seokjin’s phone rings suddenly and he jolts up to answer the phone.

“Inspector, we have a rural estate. It matches the description perfectly.” Miguel says.

“Where is it?”

“Near the small town where the pharmacy is. Six hundred forty hectares and it’s a private hunting land. There’s a house too, big enough to plan a heist of that magnitude.” Miguel reports, looking at the map.

The Professor watches Seokjin stand up.

“A group of teenagers saw a group of people on the evening of San Juan, they didn’t look like hunters, but all through the summer they heard explosions.”

“Explosions?” Seokjin asks.

“Yes, explosions. They don’t quite know what it was but one said they weren’t hunting rifles, not with cartridges. I sent units to the area and arranged an intervention team for possible armed intervention.”

“Good. That’s good. Send me more information to my phone, I’ll head over there as soon as I can.” Seokjin closes his eyes to calm himself down.

“Santiago! We have the all-clear, we are setting off,” Miguel says into his radio, “Units one, two, and three, ready now.” He orders.

“Salva, I’m not feeling very well, but can you drive?” Seokjin asked, looking at him.

“Um… yes.”

“I need you to drive me somewhere.”

The Professor takes a deep breath.

* * *

** _Cairo poured the Professor a glass of wine, the crackling wood from the fireplace was the only thing heard as it was late at night._ **

** _“Everything starts tomorrow.” Cairo shrugs, taking a sip from his drink._ **

** _The Professor took a deep breath, as he looked at his wine, nervous._ **

** _“Namjoon hyung, please look at me,” Cairo’s voice breaks as whispers, “I want you to promise me two things.”_ **

** _The Professor, still in his seat, looks up at Cairo, setting his wine down._ **

** _“If things go wrong… you’ll run away,” Cairo nods, as his jaw clenches, “Okay? You’ll run away.” _ **

** _The Professor stares at him with a disappointed look, “nothing will go wrong, Tae.”_ **

** _“If things go wrong, I will throw my body under the bus and you run away. Don’t wait at the hangar for me.” Cairo holds his hand._ **

** _“Nothing will go wrong.” The Professor shakes his head, as he grips Cairo’s hand tightly, “nothing will go wrong.” He repeats, voice weak._ **

** _“You know as I do that everything could go wrong. I’ll only go there if you promise me that, if things go to hell, you won’t let them catch you, not like our dad.” Cairo gives him an intense look._ **

** _“I won’t promise you that.” _ **

** _“Either you promise me now or you won’t have an asshole in charge from now on.” Cairo gives a broken smile._ **

** _“Don’t say that.” _ **

** _Cairo lets go of his hand and sits down next to him, “and… and I need you to promise me to…” He looks down, contemplating as his hands shake._ **

** _“To what?” The Professor asked, gently._ **

** _“To… to look for Kookie,” Cairo gives a weak smile, his eyes glisten in the light, “look for Jungkook, okay?” He laughs awkwardly, wiping his tears away harshly._ **

** _“We’ll look for him together, Taehyung,” the Professor grabs his hand, “together. We will look for him together.”_ **

** _Cairo shakes his head._ **

** _“Nothing will go wrong, Taehyung. We can do anything, we’re the resistance, remember?” He pulls him in for a hug._ **

_ The Professor’s whole life revolves around just one idea: Resistance _ .

** _“Una mattina mi son alzato, o bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao ciao…_ ** **”** ** _ The Professor sings into Cairo’s ears like a lullaby._ **

_ His grandfather who took part and resisted next to the partisans to defeat the fascists in Italy had taught him that song. _

** _“_ ** ** _Una mattina mi son alzato, E ho trovato l'invasor…” They said together._ **

_ And he taught it to us.  _

** _“O partigiano, portami via, Ché mi sento di morir.” Cairo smiles as the Professor looks at him._ **

_ That was the same night where Sucre, along with Kyoto heard them talking to each other. For once the four of them had something in common other than money: Brotherhood. _

* * *

“Six kilometres straight on, and after the first diversion on the right.” Seokjin reads off of the map on his phone.

The Professor nods, looking straight at the road.

“Salva, could you go a little faster? You won’t get fined with me.” Seokjin chuckles.

“Yeah, sorry. I’m just a bit nervous, it’s my first time going to a crime scene.” The Professor smiles.

Seokjin pats his shoulder comfortingly.

The two slowly arrive at the place that the Professor and his team have lived in, the familiar surroundings have now been filled with police cars, the sounds of birds and gunshots when they lived there have been replaced with sirens and officers talking amongst each other. The Professor gulps and looks at Seokjin, “wait here.” The Inspector told him and got out of the car.

The Professor’s grip on the steering wheel tightens as the SWAT team opens the doors with a battering ram. Seeing a dinner table with countless bottles and food, along with utensils and plates. The rooms were overall empty, only dust floats as the officers continue to inspect each one.

“No one comes in without wearing a suit. Whoever is not essential here, stay out of perimetre one. Got it?” Seokjin orders as he comes in wearing a protective suit, with glasses and a mask.

The Professor hears this from the police’s radio in the car as he rolls the window down.

“Inspector! Over here! We hit the jackpot!” A forensic worker shouts in the dining room.

Seokjin walks over to see every chance of DNA samples, displayed perfectly on the table.

“I want the photographers and Scientific branch in. Take pictures of everything. The whole house needs to be raided every single corner.” Seokjin says into his mic.

The Professor looks from the outside, numerous workers going in and out, some with cameras, some with clipboards to write information down, he can’t do anything.

“Inspector, we’re at the attic. It’s amazing. You won’t believe this.” An officer said.

“Seokjin, you have to come up here,” Miguel says, you can hear the joy in his voice.

_ It was on the walls, the timetables, photos, maps. The whole fucking plan. _

“We got them. Their time is over.” Seokjin grins as he looks at every inch of the wall, several photos and files taped and stapled.

The Professor adjusts his glasses.

** _“I love you, hyung.” Cairo smiles and hugs him tightly._ **

** _“I love you too, Taehyung.” The Professor whispers, tears in his eyes._ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it aint the end,,, yet.


End file.
